Dump truck driver out on DWI bond fatally strikes tanker truck

A dump truck driver out on DWI bond crashed into a tanker truck on Tuesday morning, killing the other driver. 

The accident happened on May 7th at about 9:15 a.m. at Mial Plantation Road and Old Baucom Road, near the border of Wake and Johnston counties in North Carolina. 

According to WRAL, 41-year-old Victor Eldred Adrian Sumner crossed the centerline in his dump truck and crashed into a fuel tanker driven by 55-year-old Scott Thomas Painter. Painter was pronounced dead at the scene. 

Residents living near the crash site say that it sounded “like a bomb going off or something. It was really loud.” 

Smuner reportedly “dipped out” on foot immediately after the crash, but was soon apprehended by law enforcement. 

The at-fault driver, he just dipped out into the woods,” one investigator said on the radio following the wreck. “I got eyes on him but I’ll bring him back up to the crash site so I can turn him over to him [sic] as soon as possible.”

Sumner sustained minor injuries in the wreck and was taken to a hospital for treatment. He admitted to using a cell phone at the time of the crash, and was charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle, operating left of center, careless and reckless driving, operating a commercial vehicle while using a mobile telephone, and resisting or delaying an investigation.

Sumner appeared in court on Wednesday afternoon with a cast on his arm. His attorney told the court that Sumner was watching movies on Facebook at the time of the wreck. Although he was advised against speaking, Sumner reportedly stated “Oh, God, I [am not] ever going to be able to work,” during court proceedings. 

Officials believe that Sumner had oxycodone in his system and was out on bond for drug possession and driving while impaired from an incident back in May 2023 at the time of Tuesday’s crash. 

No further information has been released.