AHOSKIE –  The North Carolina Highway Patrol has determined which driver was at fault during a deadly crash that occurred July 28 in Bertie County.

First Sgt. Mike Warren of the NCHP’s Troop A / District II office in Ahoskie said an eyewitness to the deadly crash, which occurred at the US 17 / NC 45 intersection at Midway, stepped forward last week to provide information.

“From that eyewitness account, we have determined that Myron Burney, now deceased, was responsible for causing the accident,” Warren stated on Monday.

Warren went on to say that the eyewitness was stopped at a red light at the intersection behind a tractor-trailer driven by Robert Peele, age 47, of Washington, NC. Both the tractor-trailer and the vehicle driven by the eyewitness were headed north on NC 45.

“When the light turned green, the tractor-trailer was in the process of legally crossing the intersection when the trailer portion of the truck was impacted by Mr. Burney’s vehicle, which was traveling east on US 17 at that time,” Warren stated. “With that information in hand, we have determined that Mr. Burney failed to stop for the stoplight.”

In the original report filed by NCHP Trooper J.V. Reid, the two vehicles met at the intersection and that Burney’s car went underneath the trailer and continued to travel east on the road where it struck a group of trees before finally coming to rest. Burney, of Raleigh, was pronounced dead at the scene. Peele was not injured.

According to information from Elizabeth City State University, Burney served as Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management at the school.

The incident was the 11th fatality of 2014 in District II, comprised of Hertford, Bertie, and Gates counties.  It was the 8th fatality of the year in Bertie County.