South Carolina man dies after vehicle crashes into animal that ran in road, officials say

A South Carolina man was killed after a crash where the motorcycle he was driving collided with an animal that had run in the road, officials said.

Jarrett Phillips, a 27-year-old Easley resident, died Monday in an Upstate hospital days after the crash that was called an accident, according to the Oconee County Coroner’s Office .

The single-vehicle collision happened Aug. 21 at about 10 p.m., said Master Trooper William Bennett of the South Carolina Highway Patrol .

Phillips was the only person on a 1996 Honda motorcycle that was driving north on Lawrence Bridge Road in the Seneca area , according to Bennett. Near the intersection with Plantation Road, the motorcycle hit an animal that had run into Lawrence Bridge Road, causing the bike to fall on the road, Bennett said. That’s about 4 miles from Clemson University .

Information about the animal’s species, and if it survived the crash, was not available.

Phillips was taken to Greenville Memorial Hospital and later died there, according to the coroner’s office.

There was no word if Phillips was wearing a helmet, but the crash continues to be investigated by the Highway Patrol.

Through Sunday, 563 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2024, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Last year, 1,030 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported.

At least 10 people have died in Oconee County crashes in 2024, according to DPS data.