Van swerves on NC highway, crashes and kills 12-year-old boy, mother and father
A 12-year-old boy and his parents died in a three-car crash on Highway 24/27 in Midland Wednesday morning, police said.
The trio was heading home — to Norwood — in a van, when the driver swerved into oncoming traffic near Bethel School Road at about 8 a.m., according to Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office.
Two cars — a 2019 Toyota RAV4 and a 2015 Chevy Silverado — t-boned the van, a 2009 Toyota Sienna, about 20 miles east of Charlotte.
“It’s unknown if the driver of the van was suffering from a medical emergency or what would have maybe caused that vehicle to swerve,” Capt. Kevin Klinglesmith with Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office told WSOC, The Charlotte Observer’s news partner. “We just don’t know yet.”
The three cars held seven people, said Midland Fire and Rescue public information officer David Bradshaw.
The boy and his parents died at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.
Paramedics airlifted the van’s driver, who was initially pinned inside, to Atrium Health in uptown Charlotte with serious, life-threatening injuries, police said. Paramedics took the other surviving passenger to Concord’s Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast.
The Toyota and Silverado did not have any passengers, according to the sheriff’s office, but both drivers were taken to the Concord hospital.
Leonidas Gheorghe, 12, died alongside his mother, Adela Gheorghe, 47, and father Nicolae Gheorghe, 49.
Counselors were available Thursday at Leonidas’ school, Norwood Elementary School, WSOC reported.
Officials closed the highway in both directions near Bethel School Road while they investigated.
This story was originally published September 20, 2023 at 12:06 PM.
