Richard Hitt is comforted by Amber Means at the site of a fatal auto accident where Richard's bother, Dale Scott Hitt Jr., was killed on Tuesday evening. Hitt, the driver of a Ford Mustang, was driving at a high rate of speed, police said, when he collided with another car and struck the cedar tree (foreground, right). Two other passengers in the car died at the scene. / Robert A. Martin, The Free Lance-Star

Debris, the result of a fatal auto accident, sits in a roadside ditch along a straight stretch of roadway on Morris Road in Spotsylvania County. The accident, which killed three men, occurred on Tuesday evening./ Robert A. Martin, The Free Lance-Star

Jessica Elieff, whose boyfriend, George Spearman, was injured in an auto accident on Morris Road in Spotsylvania County, wipes a tear from her eye while visiting the scene of a three-person fatal accident. Spearman was flown from the scene to Inova Fairfax Hospital. / Robert A. Martin, The Free Lance-Star

Police believe alcohol and speed were factors in accident that claimed lives of three men.

Date published: 6/25/2008

The three men who died last night in a Spotsylvania County crash were described today as “the best of friends” by those close to them.

Chris Hitt said he is still in shock after the deaths of his two friends and older brother Dale, who police said caused the crash while driving a Ford Mustang.

“I was supposed to be with them,” he said.

The men died shortly after the 6:08 p.m. head-on collision with another car on Morris Road near the intersection of Sunset Road near the Snell community, said Spotsylvania Sheriff Howard Smith.

The driver of the Mustang was Dale Scott Hitt Jr., 34.

He and his passengers, William James “Willy” Meade, 22, and Alexander Evander “A.C.” Cole, 20, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Smith said the black Mustang was traveling at a high speed when it swerved over the double yellow lines into oncoming traffic and hit another vehicle head-on.

The crash is being blamed, at least in part, on the use of alcohol and high-speed driving, Smith said.

He said police are still investigating, but it is also believed that none of the three men killed was wearing a seatbelt.

Smith said George Spearman, 35, of Bumpass, who was driving the Oldsmobile that was hit head-on, was flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital, but his injuries appear to be non-life-threatening.

Today, Spearman’s longtime girlfriend, Jessica Elieff, visited the crash site on her way to the hospital, where she said Spearman was undergoing surgery on his hip and nose.

The accident happened in front of the home of Earl Akers, who said he heard a boom from inside his house.

When he went out to see what it was, he saw the crumpled mass of two cars, which he said slid into a cedar tree after they collided.

“I just grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran down there,” he said.

Akers put out the flames caused by the spilling oil and gas. Deputies later told him that he saved Spearman’s life.

Akers said the crash scene was surreal last night, as he waited for police to arrive.

“The flames were shooting into the air, but there was no moaning or groaning. It was deafly still, just the fire cracking,” he said.

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Date published: 6/25/2008

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