The vehicle driven by Joseph Evander Russ was traveling an estimated 90 mph before it hit a guardrail, then went through a cement barrier before dropping 31 feet and landing on its roof, killing the Bladenboro man early Saturday morning, according to a report filed by N.C. Highway Patrol Troopr J.A. McVicker Jr.
Russ, who was 28 and lived on Oak Grove Church Road, was pronounced dead at the scene, said Bladen County Coroner Hubert Kinlaw.
According to the trooper’s report, the 2003 Jeep was traveling south on U.S. 701 approaching Turnbull Creek bridge about 1 a.m. Saturday when it ran off the road on the right and struck a guardrail at an estimated 88 mph. The vehicle came back on the road and crashed through the cement bridge rail and dropped 31 feet to the ground, landing on its roof. The vehicle traveled about 233 feet after hitting the guardrail.
Russ was a mechanic at Hester Tire in Bladenboro, according to his obituary posted by Bladen-Gaskins Funeral Home & Cremation of Elizabethtown. He is survived by his father, Joe Russ, of Bladenboro, and mother, Cynthia Jones of Alabama, two children, Daniel and Riley, and a brother and sister. Services were held Monday with burial at Oak Grove Church Cemetery in Bladenboro.
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