On Monday afternoon, a Johnston County sheriff’s deputy arrived at the scene of a motor vehicle accident near the intersection of NC 96 North and Little Divine Road. The mishap occurred almost directly in front of the officer. The driver of a pickup truck, towing a new trailer with a zero-turn mower and other tools, turned from NC 96 onto Little Divine Road and encountered an oncoming car in his lane. To avoid a collision, the driver swerved off the road, causing the truck to slide on the wet grass and plunge into a deep ditch filled with water. Fortunately, the driver was uninjured. Traffic on Little Divine Road was temporarily disrupted while the mowing rig was pulled out with less damage than expected. A Johnston County Sheriff’s Office Student Resource Officer (SRO), who was on patrol, went “above and beyond” by helping to clear the roadway, shoveling debris to assist with the cleanup. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol investigated the accident, which occurred around 4:00 p.m.
