A good friend of mine, Mandi, died on May 19, 2007.
"An 18-year-old Tri-County Technical College student died Saturday from injuries sustained in a two-car collision the night before.
Authorities said Amanda Marie Webber of 115 Shadowood Road in Clemson was on her way home from her boyfriend's house at 11:20 p.m. Friday when she came across a queen size mattress in the southbound lane of U.S. 123 and stopped her car in the road. She was about a mile before Cartee Road in Easley.
A 20 Chrysler also traveling south on U.S. 123 struck her 1992 Buick Skylark in the rear, causing the Buick to go off the right side of the road, said Lance Cpl. Kathy Hiles of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
The driver of the Chrysler, James Padgett, 40, of Pickens called in the accident then left the scene, authorities said. Officers found him when he wandered out of the woods near the scene about 6 a.m. Saturday, Lance Cpl. Hiles said.
"He'd been out there all night," she said.
Mr. Padgett was later transported to Palmetto Health Baptist in Easley and released. Too much time had passed to test his blood-alcohol content, Lance Cpl. Hiles said.
Miss Webber was transported to Greenville Memorial Hospital where she died at 1 p.m. of blunt force trauma, according to Kandy Kelley, chief deputy coroner for Pickens County. She was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.
Mr. Padgett has been charged with driving too fast for conditions and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, Lance Cpl. Hiles said. He is being held in the Pickens County Detention Center.
Ms. Kelley said the family has not yet made funeral arrangements. Miss Webber was a 2006 graduate of D.W. Daniel High School and a student at Tri-County Technical College.
"From the impression I get, she was just a good girl," Ms. Kelley said."