Off-Duty N.C. EMS Worker Killed While Assisting Crash Victims

Off-duty North Carolina EMS worker William McKinney, Jr., 42, was killed Wednesday around 7:30 a.m. in Rockingham County when he was struck by an out of control tractor trailer as he attempted to assist the victims of an earlier crash along State Highway 14.

Law enforcement personnel say a southbound truck hit a patch of ice and slid across traffic into a ditch. A Mustang, also traveling south, hit the same ice patch and ended up in the ditch with the truck, though the two vehicles did not collide. McKinney, a Rockingham County EMS worker, was traveling north on NC14 when he saw the vehicles in the ditch and stopped to assist. He pulled off the road into a business driveway, donned his safety vest and exited his vehicle to check on the victims.

However, as McKinney spoke to the victims, troopers say a southbound tractor trailer driven by 58-year-old Louis Cornelius of Greensboro hit the same patch of ice as the other two vehicles and jack-knifed. The semi's back end hit the Mustang and McKinney, while the front end hit the guardrail and another vehicle before flipping over.

McKinney died as a result of his injuries. The original victims were in their vehicles when the semi hit. The Mustang driver and the driver of the third vehicle were transported to an area hospital, but there is no word on their conditions.

Cornelius has been charged with exceeding a speed safe for the conditions and misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.

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