MORRISVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — A woman charged with driving while impaired is “lucky to be alive” after crashing her car through a barricade and down a 150-foot embankment into a pond in Morrisville Friday morning, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
The crash happened around 3 a.m. near the intersection of Pleasant Grove Church Road and Airport Boulevard near RDU Airport, a trooper told CBS 17.
According to officials, the driver was traveling eastbound on Pleasant Grove Church Road toward Airport Boulevard when she drove her 2017 Kia Optima straight through a “T” intersection, struck a guardrail, went airborne, and then went down an approximately 150-foot embankment into a pond near a construction site.
The trooper told CBS 17 the woman’s vehicle was about halfway submerged in the water and had suffered front-end damage. The airbags in her car did deploy on impact.
Authorities said the woman suffered minor injuries and was able to get out of her vehicle but was not able to make it up the steep, muddy embankment and had to be assisted by fire crews.
The driver failed a field sobriety test at the scene and was charged with driving while impaired, reckless driving, and driving on a suspended license. She was then transported to the hospital due to her injuries, the trooper said.
The Kia was removed from the water shortly after 5 a.m.
The trooper said the woman is “lucky to be alive” and that there were a number of objects on the way down the embankment that her vehicle could have slammed into but didn’t.
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