Interstate crash victim identified

Staff reports

The victim in a late-night interstate crash has been identified.

Jose Hector Gonzales-Hernandez, 31, of North Charleston, was pronounced dead at the scene of a three-vehicle collision on I-20, near mile marker 6.

Hernandez was the driver of a 1998 International refrigerated box truck carrying produce. He was traveling eastbound toward Columbia when the vehicle crossed into the median, bounding the retainer wires and was struck by a westbound 1998 Peterbilt tractor trailor driven by Sylvester Taylor. The collision completely dislodged the front end of Mr. Hernandez’s vehicle.

An eastbound Nissan SUV, driven by Brad Pritchett of Graniteville, also entered the median and overturned after being stopped by the retaining wires. It is not not clear at this time what the sequence of events were. The surviving drivers in this crash were transported to Medical College of Georgia with non-life threatening injuries.

A significant downpour of rain may have contributed to this crash. I-20 was shut down for several hours due to the crash.

Hernandez is the 27th traffic fatality in Aiken County this year. SCHP continues to investigate this crash. Toxicology is pending.

Aiken County coroner Tim Carlton said Hernandez was pronounced dead at approximately 10:20 p.m. and died from muliple body trauma.