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Greathouse seriously injured in accident
By Carey Phillips
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Greathouse
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Kyle Greathouse, the starting point guard on Western Carolina University’s men’s basketball team, was seriously injured in an automobile accident early Wednesday morning.
Greathouse, a 22-year-old senior from Lancaster, Ohio, was listed in critical condition at Mission Hospitals in Asheville as of Herald press time.
Coach Larry Hunter and Athletic Director Chip Smith were at the hospital Wednesday morning, according to WCU spokesman Daniel Hooker.
The accident occurred at 2:22 a.m. on S.R. 1002 (old N.C. 107) near its southern intersection with the current N.C. 107, according to N.C. Highway Patrol Sgt. Matt Wike.
Greathouse was a passenger in a 2003 Toyota Camry driven by Jamie Lee Whitfield, 22, of Clyde, also a WCU student.
Whitfield had a blood-alcohol content of .15 on an Intoxilyzer, Wike said. The legal limit in North Carolina is .08. She was treated and released at Harris Regional Hospital, Wike said.
A report filed by Trooper Denny Wood showed the Camry had entered 1002 on the East LaPorte end and was traveling north toward campus. The driver ran off the right side of the road and over-corrected with the vehicle going across the left lane, then down an embankment, where it struck a tree before ending up in the Tuckaseigee River, according to the report.
Whitfield has been charged with driving while impaired. Additional charges are possible after consultation with the District Attorney’s office, Wike said.
Greathouse is averaging 6.2 points for the Catamounts. He leads the team in assists (53) and steals (31).
The wreck occurred just a couple of hours after another WCU athlete, football player Tim Temple, was involved in an automobile accident on the north end of 1002.
Temple, a sophomore linebacker from Charlotte, was taken to Mission Hospitals, where he was treated and released.
No information on the circumstances of that wreck were available at press time.
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