By Lance Martin

rrspin.com

EMPORIA, VA – TwoNorthampton County women died in a crash with a tractor-trailer in Emporia, VA early Saturday morning, the Norfolk-based Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported from a Virginia State Police statement.

Four other people were injured in the crash that occurred shortly before 1:30 a.m. at the intersection of Highway 301 and Route 629 near Interstate 95.

State police said a 2005 Nissan Altima carrying six people was traveling east on Route 629 when it went through a stop sign, driving into and underneath a tractor-trailer that had been traveling south on Highway 301.

State police Spokeswoman Sergeant Michelle Anaya said one of the occupants of the Nissan, 20-year-old Shasta Edwards of Margarettsville, died at the scene. She was a passenger in the center left rear seat.

The rest of the occupants, state police said, were taken to Southern Virginia Regional Medical Center in Emporia with serious injuries. Anna Buchanan, 19, also of Northampton County who had been seated in the right middle seat next to Edwards, died at the hospital.

State police say alcohol was a factor in the crash and no one in the Nissan was wearing a seatbelt.

The car’s driver, 21-year-old Devonte K. Riddick of Seaboard, sustained life-threatening injuries and charges are pending against him.

The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured.

(Lance Martin is the Editor and Publisher of www.rrspin.com. This story was reprinted with his permission.)