LEICESTER WOMAN DIES IN CRASH WITH FLATBED TRAILER

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Asheville Citizen-Times (NC)

March 2, 1999

Edition: Final
Section: Local
Page: 1B

Topics:
Index Terms:
ACCIDENTS, COMMERCIAL TRUCKS, FATALITY

LEICESTER WOMAN DIES IN CRASH WITH FLATBED TRAILER
Author: Susan Dryman; Staff Writer

Article Text:

LEICESTER - A Buncombe County woman was killed Monday when a bulldozer being towed by a dump truck came loose from its trailer, causing the trailer to crash into her car.

Cleo Nora Reems, 57, died in the 8 a.m. wreck near the intersection of Leicester Highway and Anderson Road. Reems became yet another in a string of deaths caused in recent months by big, commercial trucks.

According to Trooper Tim Jackson, the wreck happened as a 1979 Ford dump truck was traveling toward Asheville on Leicester Highway. The dump truck was pulling a 24-foot-long flatbed trailer, and the trailer was holding a 25,000-pound bulldozer.

Investigators believe the bulldozer came loose from the trailer. When it slid off the trailer, the trailer swerved in the other direction, hitting the front of Reems' 1986 Subaru.

She was traveling in the opposite direction. The bulldozer kept rolling until it came to a stop in a nearby parking lot.

Reems died at the scene, the trooper said. She was not wearing a seat belt, he said. A seat belt may have helped, he said, but he added that he couldn't be sure.

"I would say, yes, that could have helped. Possibly," he said. "I think it would."

No charges had been filed Monday against the driver, identified as Randy Scott Combs, 33, of Leicester. The trooper said Combs owned the dump truck, bulldozer and trailer and was heading to work in Fletcher when the wreck happened.

Troopers will meet today with officers from the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles, Jackson said. The DMV is also investigating the wreck because the dump truck had several violations, according to Jackson.

"Tires, breaks, lights, - a lot of things, driving left of center, inspection violation," the trooper said. "None of these really caused the accident, though."

The two agencies will present their findings to the district attorney's office. That office will decide whether any charges will be filed, the trooper said.

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Record Number: ash7065349