Update: Coroner names victim in fatal Bluffton crash involving disabled trailer
A man was killed in a Sunday morning collision on Bluffton Parkway that sent a disabled trailer crashing into him and one other person on the side of the busy roadway.
Waldo Mercado, 51, died of blunt force injuries shortly after the collision. He hailed from Argentina and lived in the Bluffton area as recently as 2024, according to the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office.
It happened around 10:45 a.m. near the parkway’s entrance to the Heritage Lakes neighborhood, about a mile east of Bluffton town limits. All eastbound lanes were shut down in the vicinity of the crash as emergency crews responded.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol says two people were standing outside a 2014 Jeep Compass that had stopped on eastbound Bluffton Parkway after a trailer it was towing came loose. A 2006 Toyota RAV4 driving east struck the trailer, causing the trailer to strike both people standing outside the Jeep.
First responders took one of the people struck by the trailer and the driver of the RAV4 to the hospital for their injuries. The second person from the disabled Jeep was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Master Trooper William Bennett of the SCHP.
Bluffton Parkway is home to some of the most dangerous intersections in Beaufort County, according to collision data from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety.
Sunday morning’s crash marked the 13th known highway fatality in Beaufort County so far this year. In 2024, a total of 26 people died in traffic accidents across the county.
Beaufort County traffic deaths so far in 2025
Feb. 1: A 10-year-old boy was struck and killed by a pickup truck while riding his bike in a Bluffton-area neighborhood.
Feb. 8: The driver of a Mini Cooper was killed after the car collided with a tree and caught fire off U.S. 278 on Hilton Head Island.
Feb 10: A motorcyclist died in a collision with a tree on Trask Parkway.
March 19: A Varnville resident was killed after his pickup truck flipped and struck a tree in northern Beaufort County.
April 27: A pedestrian was believed to be fatally struck by two vehicles that fled the scene near the Broad River Bridge. SCHP troopers asked for the public’s help in identifying the suspect drivers.
May 19: A Beaufort man was killed and three others were hospitalized after a six-vehicle pileup on Bluffton’s U.S. 278 near the entrance to Rose Hill Plantation.
June 7: A two-vehicle collision on S.C. 170 killed a driver from Hinesville, Georgia, and sent three of her passengers to the hospital.
June 12: A motorcyclist died at the hospital after his bike ran off the highway near the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.
July 5: A pedestrian on Parris Island Gateway was struck and killed by two passing cars just after midnight.
July 6: A bicyclist was killed in a hit-and-run at an unknown time on U.S. 21. SCHP troopers were attempting to learn the make and model of the suspect vehicle and the driver’s identity.
July 21: A man died when his sedan collided with a tree on north-end Hilton Head Island.
July 28: One person was killed in an early morning collision between two pickup trucks on U.S. 278 in Bluffton.
This story was originally published August 4, 2025 at 2:02 PM.
