Dump truck driver charged, gas truck driver killed in head-on crash in Wake County

RALEIGH, NC — One driver was killed and the other ended up in the hospital facing criminal charges when a dump truck and a gasoline truck collided head-on Tuesday morning near a bridge in rural Wake County.

The accident occurred around 9:15 a.m. when the trucks collided at Mial Plantation Road and Old Baucom Road near the border of Wake and Johnston counties. The intersection remained closed until the afternoon.

The State Highway Patrol said Victor Eldred Adrian Sumner, 41, of Garner, crossed the center line in his dump truck and collided with a gas tanker truck driven by Scott Thomas Painter, 55, of Wendell.

The painter was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sumner was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries and was charged with involuntary manslaughter by motor vehicle, driving on the left, negligent and reckless driving, operating a commercial vehicle while using a cell phone and resisting or delaying an investigation.

In radio communications immediately following the accident, the police officer stated that Sumner was walking away from the accident. “The at-fault driver simply ducked into the woods,” an investigator said. “I saw him, but I’m going to take him back to the crash site so I can hand him over as quickly as possible.”

Court records show Sumner was charged with drug possession and driving while impaired in May 2023. He was out on bail on those charges, which had not yet gone to trial.

Even about that sound Maryanne Rhodes, who lives near her vacuum cleaner, heard the crash.

“It was like a bomb went off or something. It was really loud,” she said.

Sky 5 flew over the scene after the accident and showed significant damage to the two huge trucks.

According to radio traffic, oil leaked from the tanker towards Neuse immediately after the crash.

WRAL News reached out to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality about the oil spill because it is so close to the spill Neuse But River hasn’t received a response.