17-year-old dies hours after crash on Grace Chapel Road

Friday, Aug. 24, 2007

Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

GRANITE FALLS - A Granite Falls teenager riding in a car that slammed into a tree Wednesday afternoon died a few hours later at a Tennessee hospital, authorities said.

Brittnay Chester, 17, was sitting in the front seat of a car driven by her boyfriend, 18-year-old Kenneth Tramble, when the car veered off Grace Chapel Road shortly before 12:45 p.m. and slammed into two trees.

She was taken by helicopter to Johnson City Medical Center, where she died at 4:31 p.m., said Trooper Myron Davis of the N.C. Highway Patrol.

Tramble and his 13-year-old brother, Seth, who was sitting in the back seat, were taken to Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory. Kenneth Tramble was released from the hospital Thursday, and Seth Tramble was in stable condition Thursday afternoon.

Authorities were still investigating, but they did not think excessive speed or alcohol contributed to the crash. Kenneth Tramble was charged with careless and reckless driving.


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