WCU graduate student dies in two-vehicle accident

By Carey Phillips

Officers from the N.C. Highway Patrol worked Friday to reconstruct the accident that killed Erica Coffey, a Western Carolina University graduate student, last Thursday (Aug. 31). The wreck happened at the intersection of N.C. 107 and Cullowhee Mountain Road near Cullowhee Valley School. The reconstruction was scheduled to resume Wednesday.

Erica Coffey, 22, of Hickory, died at Harris Regional Hospital just before she was to be airlifted to Mission-St. Joseph's Hospital, according to Sgt. Matt Wike of the N.C. Highway Patrol.

Coffey was driving a 1996 Saturn on Cullowhee Mountain Road (formerly Speedwell Road) when she pulled into the intersection at N.C. 107, Wike said. Her vehicle was struck by a southbound 1989 Ford pickup truck driven by 40-year-old Bonnie Hooper Messer of Shook Cove Road, Cullowhee.

Wike asked anyone who witnessed the 8:45 a.m. accident to call the Highway Patrol Sylva office at 586-8758 or the district office in Clyde at (828) 627-2851.

Officers have not yet determined the status of the traffic light at the intersection when the wreck occurred, Wike said. A reconstruction of the accident was conducted Friday and was to be resumed Wednesday.

Messer, who was treated and released at Harris Regional, was charged with having an expired operator's license, according to Wike.

Both drivers were alone in their vehicles, and both were wearing seat belts, he said.

Upon impact, both vehicles went off the left side of the road. The Saturn struck a utility pole before coming to rest near the shoulder. The pickup hit a guy wire for the utility pole and came to rest a short distance down Old Speedwell Road, Wike said.

Trooper J. L. Womack is the investigating officer.

Coffey had graduated from WCU in the spring with a degree in education. She did an internship last year at Smokey Mountain Elementary School working with third-graders.

"She did a wonderful job and was well thought of here," Principal Tom Dowell said. "The kids really liked her. A number of folks were upset because they thought so much of her. She was an asset to our program."

A graduate of Foard High School in Catawba County, she had started classes for a master's degree in education. She worked at the WCU Reading Center.

"If I had a daughter, she would be my first choice," said Barbara Bell, director of the Reading Center. "She was one of the sweetest gals. She had already touched many children's lives, but she would have touched so many more lives."

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