A WCU student was killed in the early hours of Saturday morning on a rural road near campus when he lost control of his car and it struck a tree.
Benjamin Nathan, a 19-year old freshman at WCU, was driving a Volkswagen Beetle at 3 am Saturday on Weyehutta Road, going towards the Carolina Village Apartments. According to the Highway Patrol report, when the right side tires of his car hit the shoulder, he lost control of the vehicle and it struck a tree.
Witnesses at the scene of the accident said that Nathan’s car was moving in excess of 60 miles per hour around a left-hand curve immediately before the accident.
Nathan died as a result of the injuries he sustained in the accident. There were no passengers in the car.
The Highway Patrol officer at the scene, S.S. Allred, was unable to tell whether alcohol had been involved in the accident, and tests have not returned yet that will determine it for certain.
Nathan was in his first semester at WCU, having graduated from Tuscola High School in 2000. He was originally from Chapel Hill.
A graveside service was held Monday afternoon in Asheville, at Riverside Cemetery.
