Rollover on Virso Road

Published 7:42 pm Saturday, November 23, 2019

A single-vehicle crash Friday afternoon, Nov. 15, in Prince Edward County involved an overturned vehicle hauling a trailer on Virso Road, with the driver eventually being transported by helicopter to a trauma center, according to Meherrin Volunteer Fire and Rescue Inc. and Virginia State Police (VSP).

VSP Public Relations Director Corinne N. Geller said Wednesday, Nov. 20, that the crash occurred at 2:27 p.m. on Route 633, less than a mile north of Route 757.

“A 1993 GMC Suburban was traveling north on Route 633,” she said. “As it came into a curve, it ran off the right side of the highway. The Suburban overturned in the roadway, while the trailer it was towing ran off the right side of the highway and came to a stop.

Email newsletter signup

“The driver, David Freeman, 52, of Meherrin, Virginia, was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment of serious injuries,” she continued. “He was not wearing a seat belt.”

Meherrin Fire and Rescue Captain J.R. Newman said, “When we first got the initial call, it was a vehicle rollover on Virso Road with possible entrapment — unknown how many occupants, unknown what kind of injuries that (they) did have. Squad 5 was the first on scene, which is when I took command, and we noticed that there was a patient still inside the vehicle. It was a (confirmed) rollover.

“That’s when our (emergency medical technician) EMT and I and multiple other firefighters try to assess what’s going on, what kind of injuries he has,” he continued, “and once we went through and figured out that we need to hurry up and get him to the hospital, that’s when we made the initial call to land a helicopter to send him to a trauma center due to his injuries.”

Newman, who accompanied the driver in the ambulance to Central Southside Community Hospital, was not sure which hospital the driver was flown to, but he said, “It was Med Flight 1 that landed, so more than likely, they went to VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center).”

Newman said extrication of the driver from the vehicle “took us probably about 5-10 minutes.”

The captain confirmed that the driver was the only person in the vehicle.

Newman said Meherrin Fire and Rescue was notified of the wreck at 2:30 p.m. and arrived about 10 minutes later at the scene, which was 1263 Virso Road.

“Once I got there my main concern was the patient,” he said. “I didn’t really take a look at how he wrecked or what happened. He was responsive, but he wasn’t really sure where he was, what was going on, and he couldn’t really tell me or the EMT what was going on and how he wrecked.”

Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the scene in addition to Meherrin Fire and Rescue and VSP, Newman said.

Geller concluded her Nov. 20 statement by noting, “Charges are pending, as the crash remains under investigation.”