BUFFALO — A Union man was killed early Friday morning in a single-car accident near Buffalo.

David Michael Turner, 41, 102 Blue Bird Street, Union, died around 4 a.m. according to Union County Deputy Coroner John Fallaw.

Fallaw said Turner died from injuries he received when his car crashed on the Riley Road and he was partially ejected from the vehicle. He said Turner was pronounced dead at the scene.

L/Cpl Billy Elder of the SC Highway Patrol said the accident occurred 3.5 miles west of Union. Elder said Turner was driving a 2002 Dodge Pickup traveling south on Riley Road when the truck ran off the right side of the road, struck an embankment and a tree and flipped over.

He said Turner was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.

No one else was in the vehicle.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

Two Injured

Nearly eight hours earlier, two people were injured when the SUV they were in collided with a semi on SC 72 between Carlisle and Whitmire.

Elder said the 2002 Kia was traveling east around 8:30 a.m. when it crossed the center line and collided with the westboud 2006 International truck and trailer. He said the collision, which occurred 4.5 miles west of Carlisle, was not directly head on, with the point of impact being the left headlights of both vehicles.

The driver of the semi, Tommy Rutledge, 52, 810 Earl Cauthen Road, Heath Springs, was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision and was not injured.

Elder said the driver of the Kia, Michael Wayne Roberts, 23, 555 Garden Dale Circle, Chester, and his passenger, Christy Lingerfeldt, 23, York, were injured even though they, too, were wearing seatbelts.

He said Roberts was airlifted by LifeMed to Palmetto Health in Columbia and Lingerfeldt by Regional One to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.

SC 72 was closed for three hours while emergency personnel worked the scene.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation.