The victim, whose name was not available, was not wearing a seatbelt and was pronounced at the scene, McDougald said. Speed is not believed to have been a factor in the crash.

No charges are expected.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/18/3828744/fatal-crash-reported-in-chester.html

It usually works, he said.

“Except once, which was today,” he said Thursday evening, less than three hours after the plane crashed into a field in Chester County, just off of S.C. 9 and Mount Arant Road near Richburg.

Emergency crews were called to the scene about 3:30 p.m., said Chester County Emergency Management Director Eddie Murphy. Mikos was the only one on the plane and was not hurt.

The crash did not cause a fire in the field either, he added.

“If he hadn’t had one bad ditch, he probably wouldn’t have had any damage,” Murphy said.

Mikos, who is originally from New York, moved to Rock Hill five years ago and built the plane himself, a Murphy renegade painted to resemble a World War I plane, in 2001. He’s been flying that model since 2005, but has been regularly flying planes since 1959, when he joined a Flying Club while in the U.S. Army.

“It’s fun,” he said of flying, pointing to pictures of different planes on his office wall.

Mikos keeps the plane at a hangar at the Lancaster County Airport and flies several times a week. Thursday was just like any one of those days.

Until he hit a loop at 3,000 feet and realized the engine wasn’t cutting back on.

“I tried restarting it by diving the plane,” he said. “It just wouldn’t do it.”

Mikos then began looking for an open field or some kind of flat ground to land on. He said he wasn’t scared.

“A plane can glide even when the engine is off,” he explained. “I found open fields... When I got down close to the ground, the field seemed smooth, but as I was getting to it I saw a ditch.”

The bottom of the plane was torn off, but everything else seemed fine. Mikos said strong safety harnesses kept him strapped down, and he didn’t notice any fuel leaking. His plane had an emergency locator beacon, which alerted 911.

“I walked to the highway, a guy picked me up in his car and took me to the airport,” he said. "On the way, I saw an ambulance going by.”

He said knew the ambulance was going to the site of the crash.

Mikos lost his glasses in the crash.

“I didn’t even realize I’d lost them until I was in the car introducing myself,” he said.

Without a plane, Mikos said he wouldn’t be flying for awhile –– to the relief of his wife, Bonnie, who was very upset at the news.

“He’s going to watch grass grow,” she said. “I told him that’s all he can do now.”

http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/16/3823468/emergency-crews-respond-to-plane.html

Donofrio was transported to Carolinas Medical Center-Charlotte, Elder said. His condition was unknown this afternoon.

The crash closed the right lane of traffic on I-77.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/16/3825801/rock-hill-crash-slows-traffic.html

Several troopers and investigators are on the scene.

It was not immediately clear what type of injuries were involved.

Check back for more details.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/03/14/3818705/sc-5-traffic-stalled-after-crash.html

Preliminary findings have determined she was the driver of the pick-up truck, he said. The STAR team is still trying to determine how the woman became pinned beneath the vehicle.

York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said late Monday officials are still trying to track down the woman's family. She said the woman died at the scene.

Deputies believe the dog belongs to another neighbor on the same road, but couldn't locate them at the time of the report, the report states. Charges are pending, as the dog was in violation of the county's leash ordinance.

The woman took her dog to the vet and found it suffered injuries to its tail and back area, according to the report. It is expected to live.

Lemaire was riding his 2009 Piag moped down S.C. Highway 557, about two miles north of Clover, when he lost control and spilled into the roadway, Elder said. He was air-lifted to the hospital.

Lemaire was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

There have been three fatal accidents on Highway 557 since Dec. 2010.

The neighbor had threatened in the past to shoot anyone who interfered with his dog, the report states.

The woman called animal control, but they told her to file a police report, the report states. Deputies could see the dog on the property when they arrived, but didn't see where it went. The woman gave them the name of the neighbor she believes owns the dog.

At the height of the snarl, the traffic was backed up nearly 9 miles, past Sunset Road. It created a very slow morning commute for many motorists headed to Charlotte from the north side.

Motorists can expect traffic to resume a normal speed before 9:30 a.m.

Otherwise, there were no major problems on Charlotte-area roadways at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Statements by upperclassmen during that investigation corroborated the victims' accusations, according to the suits. But when talking to sheriff's investigators, the upperclassmen changed their accounts "to lessen their involvement and minimize the extent of the incident."

"Defendants engaged in a massive cover-up to conceal the true events that occurred," the suits allege. They add "the school district and school employees 'coached' the upperclassmen and other students to downplay or deny the incident."

The lawsuits do not identify which defendants were allegedly involved in covering up the events.

Clover schools spokesman Mychal Frost declined to comment on the suits.

The suits, filed in federal civil court Wednesday, add a new twist to a controversial case that gripped Clover's school community last fall, when 13 players were suspended amid allegations that three players - ages 14, 15, and 17 - were hazed.

The incidents took place on three separate days in September at the end of the school day in the varsity football locker room before practice.

When the York County Sheriff's Office began investigating on Oct. 6, school leaders said they heard rumors that at least one student was sexually assaulted with a broom.

On Nov. 3, after the investigation, Solicitor Kevin Brackett and York County Sheriff Bruce Bryant dismissed the allegations as mere "horse play."

Brackett later told The Herald that what happened in the locker room wasn't clear.

"What exactly was done with (the broom) couldn't be established beyond a reasonable doubt," he said.

"It was not enough to justify going with charges.

"The clear impression we were left with is it was horsing around."

The families of two of the victims - the 14-year-old and the 17-year-old - are suing more than 20 defendants, including all seven school board members, Superintendent Marc Sosne, Clover High Principal Mark Hopkins, head football coach John Devine and several alleged student attackers.

The victims accuse the school district of gross negligence, civil conspiracy, violating the teens' constitutional rights and the Safe Schools Climate Act, and intentionally inflicting emotional distress.

They're suing the alleged attackers for negligence, assault and battery.

The victims' parents, identified as John and Rosetta McCrorey and Yelanda McCray, seek a jury trial. They say their children have suffered physical, emotional and psychological pain as well as fright, shock and "loss of enjoyment of life."

McCray's suit says varsity players restrained her 17-year-old son on Sept. 21, pulled down his pants "and attempted to, and in fact did, physically assault and batter (him) with a broom stick."

Classmates relentless taunts and teasing the following weeks traumatized him to the point he transferred schools, the suit says.

After the criminal investigation last year, Brackett, the 16th Circuit solicitor, declined to file charges, saying the victim's credibility influenced his decision.

The 17-year-old initially told detectives he was outside the varsity football locker room drinking Gatorade when several players grabbed him, forced him into the locker room, and tried to sexually assault him with a broom, according to York County Sheriff's Office investigation records.

Detectives, however, couldn't find witnesses to corroborate his account.

And in a follow-up interview, the student changed his story to say he was already in the locker room when players grabbed him, according to the records.

The McCroreys' suit says their 14-year-old son was grabbed by older players on Sept. 30 and carried into the locker room.

Sheriff's investigation records obtained by The Herald show that the 14-year-old told investigators the incident started when a varsity player snatched his book bag that afternoon while a substitute teacher was in charge of coach Devine's weightlifting class.

As the 14-year-old chased the student to get the bag back, players picked him up and carried him down the stairs to the varsity locker room.

They carried him to the shower and dropped him on the floor. The freshman said he covered his face and head as students punched and kicked him.

"Someone was pulling on my pants, but I held them up," he told detectives.

They continued until someone yelled, "Coach is coming."

Witness accounts to investigators about what happened that day varied.

One witness said he saw players carry the freshman into the shower and drop him, but not hit him.

Another player said the students who grabbed the underclassmen were just giving him "little love taps."

Another student said he saw "a bunch of people bullying" the 14-year-old.

The varsity player identified as the instigator in the incident told investigators that other students picked the freshman up then dropped him.

Of the three incidents, Brackett, the solicitor, has said the 14-year-old's was the only one in which he believed someone could have been charged.

But Brackett said he didn't because the student told investigators he didn't want to press charges.

"If he wanted to press charges, we probably would have," Brackett told the Herald in December.

"In a case like this, where there are allegations of simple assault with only one victim ... I'm not going to force that guy to go to court."

Brackett on Wednesday stood by his decision, but declined to discuss the lawsuits.