Jasper Co. coroner IDs Lowcountry man killed in fiery single-car crash over weekend

The Jasper County Coroner’s Office has identified a 34-year-old man from Hampton County who was killed over the weekend when his car veered off a local highway, struck a tree and caught fire.

Eric Housey, of Garnett, was pronounced dead of “upper-body blunt force trauma” at the scene of the crash Saturday night, according to Coroner Willie P. Aiken III . He was the sole occupant of the 2019 Dodge Coupe.

Housey was driving north on U.S. 321 (Cotton Hill Road) around 11:25 p.m. Saturday when the crash occurred, according to Master Trooper Gary Miller of the South Carolina Highway Patrol. As he drove past Cal Causeway Road in the unincorporated community of Tarboro, he veered off the left side of the road and struck the treeline, prompting the car to burst into flames shortly after first responders removed him from the vehicle.

Aiken said there was “too much damage” to the vehicle to tell if Housey had been wearing a seatbelt. The man’s autopsy is scheduled for Monday at Charleston’s Medical University of South Carolina.

Saturday’s collision remains under investigation by the Jasper County Coroner’s Office and the SCHP.

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