By Mike McCombs
The Island News
The South Carolina Highway Patrol (SCHP) is asking the public to be on the lookout for a blue Ford F-150 it believes was involved in a Sunday, July 6 hit-and-run collision with a bicyclist on U.S. Hwy. 21 near Bruce K. Smalls Drive that left a 50-year-old Beaufort man dead.
The SCHP is searching for a blue 2002 Ford F-150 extended-cab pickup truck with tag No. 634BXZ. The truck may have damage on its front passenger side or may be in the process of being repaired.
The public is asked to please call the Highway Patrol with any pertinent information at 843-953-6010, 1-800-768-1501 or by dialing *47 (*HP) on a mobile device.
The deceased, 50-year-old Vick Smalls of Beaufort, was declared dead on the scene at 2780 Trask Parkway (Hwy. 21) by the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office. The exact time of the incident is as of yet undetermined.
According to Sgt. Tyler Tidwell of the South Carolina Highway Patrol (SCHP), there were two units involved in the incident.
The first unit, an unknown motor vehicle now believed to be the blue pickup, and the second unit, the bicyclist, were both headed south on U.S. 21 when the vehicle struck the bicyclist. The vehicle then left the scene.
Smalls was declared dead of “blunt force injuries sustained in an automobile versus bicycle collision.”
The incident remains under investigation by the SCHP.
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
