news-record.com

MONTICELLO — Failing to yield the right of way killed a driver Sunday afternoon and injured three others in a two-car crash in northeast Guilford County.

The Highway Patrol identified the victim as William Peter Keene, 70, of 4444 Chicken Ridge Rd. in Jewell Ridge, Va. His wife was seriously injured, and two people in another car suffered minor injuries.

The Highway Patrol said Keene was driving north on Friendship Church Road just before 3 p.m. when he ran a stop sign. His 2002 Nissan sedan pulled out onto N.C. 150 in front of a 2001 Dodge pickup truck that was traveling east. The force of the impact knocked the truck onto its left side and spun the Nissan so it was facing east.

Keene was pronounced dead at Moses Cone Hospital on Sunday. Shirley Jean Keene, 71, a passenger in Keene's Nissan, remains in critical condition Monday morning at Moses Cone Hospital.

A Cone spokesman said the hospital treated the two other people injured in the crash. Both have been released from the hospital. The Highway Patrol identified them as Joshua Allen Jolley, 20, of Elon, who was driving the Dodge pickup truck; and passenger Brittany Nicole Crutchfield, 19, of Burlington.

The Highway Patrol said both people in the pickup truck and Shirley Keene were wearing lap and shoulder restraints. Troopers were unable to tell if William Keene was wearing a seatbelt. There was no indication that alcohol was a factor in the crash.

Troopers said there were no skid marks at the intersection, which suggests that neither vehicle was able to stop. The truck was traveling about 50 mph on N.C. 150, which has a posted speed limit of 55 mph. The Nissan sedan was going about 40 mph.