22-year-old man killed in Jasper County DUI crash, officials say. Driver now jailed in SC
A 25-year-old Georgia woman was taken into custody at the Jasper County Detention Center on Thursday, less than a week after a single-vehicle collision sent her and one other person to the hospital and killed a Savannah man, according to a S.C. Highway Patrol news release.
The collision occurred just after 4 a.m. on Bellinger Hill Road in Hardeeville, S.C. Highway Patrol spokesperson Lance Cpl. Matt Southern said Saturday.
The driver — Tessa Marie Openlander, of Richmond Hill, Georgia — is charged with felony DUI resulting in death, Southern said. She remained incarcerated as of late Thursday afternoon, according to the jail log.
Christopher Michael Clark, 22, was identified as the man who died from injuries he sustained during the crash, according to the Jasper County Coroner’s Office. Clark died at the scene as a result of his injuries, Southern said.
The crash
Openlander — who was not wearing a seat belt during the collision — was driving herself, Clark and one other passenger eastbound on Bellinger Hill Road when she drove off the right side of the roadway, Southern previously said.
He said Openlander then overcorrected, drove off the left side of the roadway and struck an embankment, which caused Clark — who was sitting in the back seat and not wearing a seat belt— to be ejected.
Openlander was taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah by EMS before she was booked into the Chatham County Detention Center until Thursday when she was extradited to South Carolina, Southern said.
The right front passenger — who was wearing a seatbelt and has not been identified — was taken to Coastal Carolina Hospital by EMS with injuries then later transferred to Memorial Health University Medical Center, Southern said. Details of the passenger’s condition were not immediately available.
This story was originally published April 4, 2019 at 4:28 PM.
