Beaufort man faces minor charges in crash that killed woman riding motorcycle last year
A 22-year-old Beaufort man is facing two minor traffic charges for his involvement in a March 1, 2020, motorcycle crash that killed a Hilton Head woman and left her husband disfigured.
On Sunday afternoon, S.C. Highway Patrol charged the 22-year-old with one count of driving under a suspended license, a misdemeanor, and one count of driving on the wrong side of a divided highway, a traffic offense, according to court records.
The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette newspapers typically do not name those charged with misdemeanors or lesser offenses.
The crash on U.S. 278 near Rose Hill Plantation in Bluffton killed Barbara DeWitt, 49, of Hilton Head Island, after the pickup truck driver crossed the center median and collided with the motorcycle.
Patrick DeWitt, who was driving the bike, barely survived, he said. DeWitt lost his left leg, and his right leg and left arm were crushed.
After the crash, S.C. Highway Patrol asked the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office to weigh in on whether criminal charges would be appropriate for the pickup truck driver.
In a letter dated October 2020, Deputy Solicitor Sean Thornton wrote that, based on Highway Patrol’s findings, there was no evidence to support the following:
- That the driver was speeding
- That the driver was intoxicated
- That the driver had “reckless, wanton, or willful disregard of the safety of others”
For those reasons, Thornton said there should be no criminal charges.
S.C. Highway Patrol did, however, obtain warrants on two minor traffic offenses on Jan. 11, 2021.
The 22-year-old ran a stop sign in Beaufort close to 1 p.m. on Sunday, and a Beaufort police officer pulled him over, a report said.
When the officer saw the driver had two active warrants from Highway Patrol, he waited for the agency to arrive to charge the man.
He was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center close to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday and was released on his own recognizance at 10 a.m. Monday, records show.
After the crash
Nearly a year has passed since the crash.
Patrick DeWitt said doctors told him he lost nearly two-thirds of his blood in the crash. He said a Good Samaritan, whom he still hasn’t met, rushed to his side in the moments after the crash and applied a belt as a tourniquet to his left leg.
“This man saved my life,” DeWitt said. “The doctors were amazed. They said, ‘we don’t understand how, but you’re still here.’”
DeWitt now has a prosthetic leg. His other leg and left arm are reinforced with titanium plating. He’s able to ride his three-wheel motorcycle and uses a walker on the treadmill at the gym.
He said he was frustrated to learn no criminal charges would be filed against the driver of the pickup truck.
“The person who caused all this gets nothing,” DeWitt said. “He didn’t realize how bad he’s changed so many lives.”
DeWitt’s specific grievance is that Highway Patrol never administered a breathalyzer or blood test on the driver. That’s because the driver “showed no signs of impairment” in the initial field sobriety test, an official told the Island Packet last year.
“It just makes no sense to me,” DeWitt said.
He still lives in the Hilton Head apartment that he shared with his wife.
Though time has passed, she is still on his mind.
“There’s always going to be that part of me that’s (grieving her),” DeWitt said. “That’s never going to go away. “
