A local man was killed around 1 a.m. this morning when his car went off the road near Willingham and Sons Building Supply on Highway 219.

Newberry County Coroner Craig Newton said Willie Kentavia Williams, 28, of Silverstreet, is believed to have left home around 10 p.m. to take a friend who lives in the lower part of the county home.

As Williams returned to town, he crossed the roadway, hit a curb and traveled across at vacant lot at Paw Paws Trail at a high rate of speed, said Newton.

The coroner says he doesn’t know what caused the car to go across the four-lane road and off the road.

The car then struck a driveway and overturned several times.

Williams, who was wearing a seatbelt, was killed instantly.

A sheriff’s deputy on routine patrol discovered the wreck at 1:26 this morning.

Newton is estimating the single car wreck occurred around 1 a.m.

An autopsy is being performed this morning and the wreck is still under investigation.

Also around 7:30 this morning a car ran off the road and into trees near the intersection of Graham and Graham Cemetery roads in Pomaria.

The driver was airlifted to a Columbia hospital and the passenger was trapped for a time in the vehicle.