ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 25, 1996 TAG: 9608260066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
A 2-month-old Patrick County infant has died from injuries she suffered when thrown from a car in an accident that injured five other people.
Savannah Lynn Bowman, of Mountain View Apartments in Stuart, died Friday at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C.
State police said the child was a passenger in a car driven by Jonathan Leon Hylton, who told police his car's brakes failed on Virginia 625 in Patrick County about 7 p.m. Thursday. Hylton's car ran a stop sign at Virginia 680 and struck a car that had the right of way, police said.
Hylton's car, which police estimated was going about 55 mph, hit the left front fender of the second car and overturned.
Savannah Lynn, who was being held in her mother's lap in the front seat of Hylton's car, was thrown from the car.
A nurse who came across the scene could tell the infant was seriously injured and drove her to R.J. Reynolds Hospital in Stuart without waiting for rescue workers to arrive, Trooper T.J. Meade said.
The child was then flown to Winston-Salem, but died at Baptist Hospital about 11 a.m. the next day.
Five other people, including the driver of the car struck by Hylton's, also were injured in the crash. The most seriously injured, Buffie Lou Vineyard, who was riding in Hylton's car, was admitted to R.J. Reynolds Hospital with a head injury.
A state law that requires child safety seats applies only to the child's parent, legal guardian or someone who regularly transports the child, Meade said.
No charges have been filed, he said, but an investigation is continuing.
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB