Man charged in Upstate crash that killed 36-year-old former Hilton Head teacher
A 28-year-old Spartanburg County man was arrested Thursday on charges from the Feb. 10 crash that killed a Hilton Head native and art teacher, Jessica Hipp-Mercer Munyon, according to a news release from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Andres Antonio Barron was charged with reckless homicide, failure to stop for blue lights resulting in death, driving under suspension, failure to return driver’s license after notice of suspension, operating a vehicle that was not registered and licensed, and use of an incorrect license plate on the vehicle, the release said.
Barron was booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Center. As of Friday morning, his bond had not been set.
Munyon died Feb. 10 around 4 p.m. after her car was hit by a Cadillac on Blackstock Road in Spartanburg County, according to reporting from local news outlets.
Two different police agencies had been pursuing the Cadillac prior to the crash, but both departments stopped their pursuit due to the driver’s reckless nature and speed, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office told local media.
The collision was described by the sheriff’s office as “violent,” and Munyon’s mother Terry Hipp told The Island Packet that her daughter’s car was split in half. She died at the scene.
Munyon was on the way to pick up her daughter from school when the Cadillac hit her.
She exchanged texts with her mom just 30 minutes before she died.
A ‘wicked sense of humor’
Munyon, a former art teacher at Hilton Head Island Elementary School for the Creative Arts is survived by her 6-year-old daughter Leah; her husband, Michael; her brother Jonathon Hipp Mercer; two nieces, Clementine and Magnolia Mercer; her mother, Terry Hipp; and her father, Larry Mercer.
She moved to the Upstate two years ago and was working from home as an art teacher at the S.C. Whitmore School, a profession she inherited from Hipp and Mercer, who both taught in the Beaufort County School District.
She loved being able to work from home and spend time with Leah, Hipp said.
Hipp remembers elaborate sets her daughter created for Leah’s Barbie dolls. She Facetimed the girls every day to play Barbies with Leah and give Munyon a chance to work.
Munyon made a beach, grocery store, doctor’s office and other sets on poster board for her mother and daughter to use in their adventures. Her attention to detail shone through as she created new worlds for Leah and Hipp to explore.
“I hope she’ll be remembered as a smart, funny young lady with a wicked sense of humor who loved her family,” Hipp said.
Munyon and her husband of seven years lived just 30 minutes from her brother in the Spartanburg area. She saw her brother on Feb. 7, when the two sat outside and visited while their kids played together.
“It was like the one moment where it felt normal again,” Hipp Mercer said of visiting with his sister during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’m just so glad I got to see her.”
Hipp Mercer said he remembers how selfless and humble his younger sister was. Even though they were four years apart, the two were inseparable when they were growing up on Hilton Head.
“It’s just devastating,” he said of the crash. “She was wonderful, but she would never admit to that. She really lit up (the room). She was a real beacon of light, but I don’t think she’d ever say that about herself.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 9:07 AM.
