CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two separate accidents in Kanawha County have claimed lives.
Cody Lynch, 20, of Charleston died in a collision with a semi on I-77 Wednesday night near Sissonville, sheriff’s deputies said. The truck driver lost control of his rig, crossed the median, and hit Lynch’s car which was headed south.
The trucker told deputies his windshield was beginning to fog up and he was distracted trying to adjust the defroster on his control panel. The accident happened about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday. The truck driver and a passenger in Lynch’s vehicle were hospitalized with injuries.
The crash closed the southbound lanes of I-77 in the area until early Thursday morning.
The second accident happened just after 1 a.m. Thursday on Kanawha State Forest Drive. In that accident, the victim ran off the road, struck a utility pole, and the vehicle rolled at least two times. The driver, identified as Abraham Floyd, 37, of Charleston, was ejected and killed.
Deputies already had a report to be on the lookout for a vehicle matching the description and license tags of Floyd’s SUV. A caller to 911 had earlier reported the operator of that vehicle driving erratically and believed the driver was drunk.
Floyd was pronounced dead at the scene.