WYSE FORK — State troopers suggested Alyssa Bryant, 19, would have been ejected from her car after it flipped off the road if she wasn’t wearing her seatbelt.
The Dover teenager said she swerved to avoid hitting an animal in the path Monday morning before her car overturned off of Wyse Fork Road. Bryant sustained non-life threatening injuries and was transported by ambulance to Lenoir Memorial Hospital after emergency crews removed her from the gray Kia Spectra she was driving.
There were no other injuries.
Trooper R.B. Kirk, who was on the scene after the accident, said alcohol and excessive speed were not factors in the wreck.
“She just overcorrected to avoid hitting an animal,” he said. “(She) ended up going upside down in the ditch.”
The sedan plunged into the grassy channel on the right side of the road near Wyse Fork Road and U.S. 70 past the Jones County line. The roof and hood were swallowed by high grass, and Bryant was initially pinned in.
“That’s an example of a seatbelt saving a life, right there in that car,” Kirk said. “Because if she didn’t have her seatbelt on, she would have been rejected I can guarantee.”
Several emergency units responded to the call around 11:20 a.m., Monday, including an alert to EastCare, which was later downgraded after it was discovered Bryant wasn’t seriously injured.
“She was conscious and talking to me,” Kirk said.
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at Jessika.Morgan@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.