WINDSOR – An Elizabeth City Police officer lost his life near here early Sunday morning in a single-vehicle accident.

Lonnie Lee Moore Jr., 47, of Elizabeth City died at the scene after the vehicle he was operating ran off the road, struck a utility pole, flipped and then impacted a tree.

Moore, who was not wearing a seat belt according to NC Highway Patrol Trooper Chris Godwin, was ejected from the vehicle.

Godwin’s report showed that Moore was operating a 1997 BMW passenger car on US 13/17, 1.2 miles south of Cedar Landing Road, in Bertie County at 2:18 a.m. Sunday.

A passenger in the vehicle, 47-year-old Stephanie Gallerson of Tampa, Florida, told Trooper Godwin that Moore swerved to miss striking a deer and ran off the roadway in the process.

Gallerson, who was wearing a seatbelt according to Godwin, was injured and airlifted to Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville. The extent of her injuries are not known.

Godwin said exceeding the posted speed (55 mph) and overcorrecting the vehicle were contributing factors to the accident.

The wreck resulted in the 15th fatality this year within the Highway Patrol’s Troop A, District II area (Bertie, Gates and Hertford counties). Five of those fatalities have occurred in Bertie County.