Georgetown Times (SC)
By Scott Harper, July 20, 2005
A Florida family's vacation on the Waccamaw Neck ended in tragedy Tuesday
when a teen-ager was killed as he was riding a bicycle.
Benjamin Thomas, 13, of Tavares, Fla., died instantly when he was struck by
a Coca-Cola tractor trailer delivery truck near The Tradition Golf Club on
Kings River Road in Pawleys Island.
Georgetown County Coroner Kenny Johnson said the accident happened at 9:34
a.m. Tuesday. Thomas was riding on the shoulder of the road with his
parents, Robert and Valerie Thomas, when the driver of the truck -
22-year-old Joseph James Stephens of Myrtle Beach - swerved to avoid hitting
a man on a turf tractor. He hit Thomas' bicycle head-on.
"His father was riding in front and his mother was behind him," Johnson
said, adding the parents were not injured. S.C. Highway Patrol Lance Cpl.
Dwight Green said charges against Stephens are pending. The investigation is
continuing. Thomas is the 17th person to die on Georgetown County roadways
this year.