Wrong-way driver causes interstate wreck

A elderly driver going the wrong direction on Interstate 587 caused a four-vehicle wreck that sent three people to the hospital Saturday.

Donald W. Webb, 92, of Macclesfield, was headed westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-587 at 10:55 a.m. in a 2023 Toyota Camry when the wreck happened at the 133 milepost, which is in eastern Wilson County near Saratoga, according to a report from Trooper F.J. Muñoz, of the N.C. State Highway Patrol.

Muñoz said Webb collided head on with a red Chevrolet Trax driven by Amber M. Harmon, 33, of Whiteville. Also in the Trax was Harmon’s daughter, Trinity Grace Funneman, 11, of Whiteville.

The impact caused the Harmon car to sideswipe a blue Suzuki driven by James Abernathy of Granite Falls.

Abernathy swerved to the right to avoid another head-on collision with the Webb vehicle.

Debris from the wreck struck a fourth car, which was not badly damaged.

Wilson County Emergency Medical Services transported Webb, Harmon and the 11-year-old to East Carolina University Health Medical Center.

Abernathy and the unnamed driver of the fourth car were not injured.

Muñoz said it isn’t clear why Webb was driving into oncoming traffic on the highway.

“He wasn’t impaired. He was just confused,” Muñoz said. “I tried to talk to him in the trauma unit and he could barely talk. Then they gave him drugs, so it made it harder for him to talk.”

Munoz interviewed Webb in the hospital following the wreck.

“When I went in there and talked to him, he was stable at the time,” Muñoz said. “He was in the trauma unit. I do not know why he went the wrong way. He knew where he was going, He was going toward Wilson. He just was going on the wrong side of the road.”

Muñoz said that Webb is charged with careless and reckless driving.

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