Crash kills Lenoir man

A Lenoir man suffered fatal injuries Saturday night in a motor vehicle accident that ejected him from his vehicle.

Juan Hernandez Olvera, 39, of 839 Queen Street, Lenoir, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident on Hickory Boulevard.

The accident happened around 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Lenoir Police Department Sgt. Allen Lawrence said Olvera was traveling south on Southwest Boulevard with two passengers, Octavio Jiminez and Jodi Lowman, when he started to exit onto U.S. 321 near the Caldwell County Fairgrounds.

As Olvera made his way along the ramp, he lost control of the 2002 Chevy Trailblazer he was driving, went off the ramp to the left and hit a rise of the highway as he approached the shoulder of 321.

Hitting that rise sent the vehicle airborne across the southbound lanes of 321 into the median. The Trailblazer then rolled several times across the northbound lanes of 321 before coming to a rest at the ramp on the opposite side of the highway.

Investigators are not sure when, but at some point, Olvera was ejected from the vehicle and thrown to the shoulder of the northbound lanes, some 35 to 40 feet away from the vehicle. He was not wearing a seat belt.

Lawrence said alcohol and speed were factors in the crash. He also noted that not using a seat belt reduced Olvera's chances of survival. Both his passengers were wearing seat belts and were treated and released from Caldwell Memorial Hospital with only minor injuries after being transported there by Caldwell County EMS.

“We'll never know, but it' a good possibility that he could have been fine if he had been wearing a seat belt,” Lawrence said. “Even though the vehicle was a mess, the passenger compartment was still very much intact. The other occupants were wearing seat belts, and they were treated and released.”

Lawrence said there was no traffic on 321 in either direction at the time of the crash. Had there been, a multi-vehicle collision with numerous injuries could have resulted.

“It's fortunate there were no vehicles in the southbound or northbound lanes,” he said. “It very easily could have been worse if had been at 5 or 6 o'clock when more cars are on that stretch of road.”

The section of 321 and Southwest Boulevard where the accident happened was shut down until about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, with Hudson Police Department and the N.C. Highway Patrol assisting LPD with traffic control by diverting vehicles around the wreck site.

The fatality is the second on Caldwell County's roads this year but the first since January. Both accidents have occurred inside the city limits of Lenoir.