WEST JEFFERSON––A Wednesday morning crash proved fatal in Ashe County.

According to Master Trooper Christopher Casey of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol in a same-day statement, at about 9:35 a.m., NCSHP personnel responded to and investigated the incident on NC-163, near Heritage Farm Road. A 2015 Toyota “Tacoma” pick-up truck, travelling north on NC-163, crossed the centerline and struck another southbound truck head-on––this one also a “Tacoma,” a 2004 model.

Casey continues that the driver of the 2004 “Tacoma,” Gary Jackson Taylor, 80, of West Jefferson, was transported by EMS to Ashe Memorial Hospital in Jefferson. There, Taylor succumbed to his injuries.

The driver of the 2015 “Tacoma,” Grayson Cole Blevins, 16, of Creston, in serious condition, was transported by medical helicopter to Atrium Health-Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. Blevins was not restrained by a seat-belt, as Casey informs.

“The initial investigation indicates speed and impairment were not contributing factors in the collision,” he adds. “Upon completion of the ongoing investigation and consultation with the Ashe County District Attorney’s office, charges are pending.  NC-163 was closed in the area for approximately two hours during the on-scene investigation.”