WINGATE

Latoya Bennett, 25, was killed Monday when she lost control of her car on Summerlin Dairy Road.

“I really don’t think speed was a factor, but where she ran off the road is,” said State Highway Patrol Trooper Dexter E. Altman. “There’s a bridge and an embankment.

“She lost control, went off the road, and down the embankment.”

Rescue workers from Wingate and Marshville fire departments, as well as Union EMS, worked to free Bennett from the car, but she was pronounced dead at the scene

The accident scene was discovered by a passing motorist, who stopped to move a large rock from the road.

He saw Bennett’s car, which was overturned on the far side of the creek that runs under the bridge just east of the intersection of Walkers Grove Road. He called 911 at 2:29 p.m. Investigators said they believe the rock was forced into the roadway when Summerlin’s car ran down the embankment.

Bennett, the mother of a 7-year-old girl, lived on East Sunset Drive in Monroe. Survivors also include her mother, Lela Covington.