Tragic Event Kills Woman

[DriVer]

We're sitting here in Briarcliff RV Resort in North Myrtle Beach today and it's a most beautiful day -- for us.

Yesterday while I was scanning some documents into my computer, Colleen hollered out that the TV had just gone off and consequently I lost the 6 pages of documents I was scanning. The power restored pretty quickly only briefly flashing because the clock didn't even loose it's programming in the convection oven.

Very briefly thereafter the CATV went off-line!

Today' Headlines Myrtle Beach Sun News:

Posted on Fri, Oct. 14, 2005

HORRY COUNTY

Woman hit by car, killed while getting mail

Driver drag racing, police say

By Paul Nelson
The Sun News

Joyce Dargan's life came to a tragic end Thursday afternoon a short distance from where she was born, worked and lived.

The Myrtle Beach woman had just retrieved letters from her curbside mailbox on U.S. 17 North when she was hit at 3:55 p.m. by a motorist who lost control of his car while drag racing with another vehicle, authorities said.

The incident, which happened during the evening rush hour, forced authorities to shut down a portion of the highway for several hours on the northbound side from Lake Arrowhead Road to about a quarter-mile south of S.C. 22.

Dargan's older brother Harold Chestnut from Longs said Thursday night that the incident at 9922 U.S. 17 North is about 100 feet from where his sister was born in 1947. Back then, the property was a residence. Now it is the Chestnut Hill restaurant.

Dargan, 57, and her husband, Deck Dargan, lived across the pond from Chestnut Hill restaurant, and she helped run the Farmer & the Fisherman Restaurant next door.

The driver of the late-model black Ford Mustang that struck and killed Dargan was transported to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.

Sonny Collins with the S.C. Highway Patrol said investigators had located the second vehicle, a 1997 Pontiac, in an apartment complex in neighboring North Myrtle Beach. The condition of the driver of that vehicle is unknown.

Collins said the Mustang and Pontiac were speeding down U.S. 17 North when the cars made contact, causing the Mustang to veer off the roadway and strike Dargan.

Dargan was pronounced dead at the scene, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said.

Todd Cartner with Horry County Fire Rescue said that after the Mustang left the roadway, it clipped a fire hydrant and snapped a utility pole in half, bringing down powerlines. The mangled car with S.C. license plates was wedged under a billboard sign for the Farmer & the Fisherman.

Firefighters had to extricate the male driver, whose name has not been released, from the vehicle.

Brent Gilbert, 20, said he was on his way to Coastal Carolina University when he witnessed the wreck. The Longs resident said the two drivers were "bumper to bumper" in the middle lane of the three-lane road, with the Mustang tailing the Pontiac.

He estimated the drivers were going between 70 and 80 miles per hour when the Pontiac suddenly swerved into the left lane.

"The instant he changed lanes, the Mustang had nowhere to go and [the Mustang] was coming up on a car going 45 [mph] in front of him," he said. "He started to go left then cut it back right."

He said the car hit Dargan, knocking her into the air and over her parked car.

The rear window of Dargan's late-model tan Mercedes Benz, which remained parked a few feet from the mailbox, was shattered.

Gilbert said the Mustang flipped over several times before coming to rest in front of the Farmer & the Fisherman restaurant.

"It's something I wouldn't want to see again," Gilbert said. Harold Chestnut said his sister was the third of four children. She has been married to Deck Dargan for about 30 years, he said. The couple have two adult children.

[DriVer]

We're sitting here in Briarcliff RV Resort in North Myrtle Beach today and it's a most beautiful day -- for us.

Yesterday while I was scanning some documents into my computer, Colleen hollered out that the TV had just gone off and consequently I lost the 6 pages of documents I was scanning. The power restored pretty quickly only briefly flashing because the clock didn't even loose it's programming in the convection oven.

Very briefly thereafter the CATV went off-line!

Today' Headlines Myrtle Beach Sun News:

Posted on Fri, Oct. 14, 2005

HORRY COUNTY

Woman hit by car, killed while getting mail

Driver drag racing, police say

By Paul Nelson
The Sun News

Joyce Dargan's life came to a tragic end Thursday afternoon a short distance from where she was born, worked and lived.

The Myrtle Beach woman had just retrieved letters from her curbside mailbox on U.S. 17 North when she was hit at 3:55 p.m. by a motorist who lost control of his car while drag racing with another vehicle, authorities said.

The incident, which happened during the evening rush hour, forced authorities to shut down a portion of the highway for several hours on the northbound side from Lake Arrowhead Road to about a quarter-mile south of S.C. 22.

Dargan's older brother Harold Chestnut from Longs said Thursday night that the incident at 9922 U.S. 17 North is about 100 feet from where his sister was born in 1947. Back then, the property was a residence. Now it is the Chestnut Hill restaurant.

Dargan, 57, and her husband, Deck Dargan, lived across the pond from Chestnut Hill restaurant, and she helped run the Farmer & the Fisherman Restaurant next door.

The driver of the late-model black Ford Mustang that struck and killed Dargan was transported to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.

Sonny Collins with the S.C. Highway Patrol said investigators had located the second vehicle, a 1997 Pontiac, in an apartment complex in neighboring North Myrtle Beach. The condition of the driver of that vehicle is unknown.

Collins said the Mustang and Pontiac were speeding down U.S. 17 North when the cars made contact, causing the Mustang to veer off the roadway and strike Dargan.

Dargan was pronounced dead at the scene, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said.

Todd Cartner with Horry County Fire Rescue said that after the Mustang left the roadway, it clipped a fire hydrant and snapped a utility pole in half, bringing down powerlines. The mangled car with S.C. license plates was wedged under a billboard sign for the Farmer & the Fisherman.

Firefighters had to extricate the male driver, whose name has not been released, from the vehicle.

Brent Gilbert, 20, said he was on his way to Coastal Carolina University when he witnessed the wreck. The Longs resident said the two drivers were "bumper to bumper" in the middle lane of the three-lane road, with the Mustang tailing the Pontiac.

He estimated the drivers were going between 70 and 80 miles per hour when the Pontiac suddenly swerved into the left lane.

"The instant he changed lanes, the Mustang had nowhere to go and [the Mustang] was coming up on a car going 45 [mph] in front of him," he said. "He started to go left then cut it back right."

He said the car hit Dargan, knocking her into the air and over her parked car.

The rear window of Dargan's late-model tan Mercedes Benz, which remained parked a few feet from the mailbox, was shattered.

Gilbert said the Mustang flipped over several times before coming to rest in front of the Farmer & the Fisherman restaurant.

"It's something I wouldn't want to see again," Gilbert said. Harold Chestnut said his sister was the third of four children. She has been married to Deck Dargan for about 30 years, he said. The couple have two adult children.

[JimmyDee]

Its sad, a life gone, family looses mother and wife and 2 young boys will spend probably the next 10-15 years in jail. How very sad.
Jim

[DriVer]

Follow-up.

2 - 17 year old kids neither one had a license. The one boy that hit the woman after being extricated out of his vehicle is still in ICU. The 2nd youth was citied with driving without a license.

Quite a few jurisdictions would have charged both drivers with at least man slaughter. There were more than 2 lives forever tragically changed in this event.

These kids need to be charged as adults, there's just no excuse to get into a 3000 vehicle and run down the road competitively at speeds of 80 MPH especially on this very busy city street.

[6MISFITZ]

Sure accidents happen but this was NO accident!

Neither 17 year old had a license, but yet both chose to get behind a wheel of a vehicle and race.
Since someone died as a direct result of these actions, I am very surprised they were not both charged with second degree "M" word as adults, dangerous driving, racing etc, first and then pled out!

Flame me for speculating or trolling but it sounds like one of those kids' parents is better connected than the lady who was killed. Sad when you need a civil court to punnish more than the criminal court, not that this would ever change what already happened.

My heart goes out to that lady's family and I can only try or hope to teach my children better.
Mike.

[DSouthw524]

Count me in on the opinion that they should be charged with manslaughter and as adults. Too many of these kids have the opinion that their age will get them off!

[John Harrelson]

Indeed it is a tragedy,, but whats done is done,,

So on to a lighter note,, Myrtle Beach, contrary to what many folks who are not native South Carolinians believe, is just a short section of beach and is not miles and miles of sandy beach..
It is only one of several small towns scattered along the South Carolina shore line..

And the county of "Horry" is not pronounced "Hoary" it's pronounced "Oar-REE"..

Just a little trivia to lighten up the gloom that I and some others feel when reading about such a terrible thing as death.

Conway, SC is my "other" home, where I grew up and Myrtle Beach is the "Fishing Hole" where I spent my summers on the pier, fishing with my Uncle Wendel..

God, do I miss it...