Teen killed after being ejected from car in crash on Midlands road, coroner says

A teenager was killed and two other people were injured in a weekend crash on a Midlands road, officials said.

Jeremiah Grenier, II, was identified as the person killed in the early-morning wreck, according to Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker. The 19-year-old Orangeburg resident died at the scene, Baker said.

The two-vehicle collision happened at about 2 a.m. Saturday on U.S. 521, near the intersection with Charles Jackson Street, according to Master Trooper Brian Lee of South Carolina Highway Patrol. That’s near the Dalzell area of Sumter County.

Grenier was driving a 2008 Mazda6 south on U.S. 521, Lee said. A 2003 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck was heading in north in the southbound lane and crashed head on into the Mazda, according to Lee.

The Chevy then ran off the right side of the road and flipped over, Lee said.

Grenier was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the Mazda, according to Baker. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

Both a passenger in the Mazda and the driver of the Chevy were injured and taken to an area hospital, Lee said. Further information on their conditions was not made available.

There was no word if the passenger in the Mazda was wearing a seat belt, and Lee said it was unknown if the Chevy driver had a safety restraint on.

Information on possible criminal charges was not available, but the collision continues to be investigated by Highway Patrol and the coroner’s office.

Through Friday afternoon, 313 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2021, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Of those, 219 had access to seat belts, but 101 were not wearing them, DPS data shows.

At least 11 people have been killed in Sumter County crashes in 2021, and seat belts were not used in nine of the deaths, DPS reported.