Double injuries at Broadstone

By Jerry Sena

jtsena@wataugademocrat.com

A congested intersection in southwest Watauga County has seen two injury accidents in less than a week, most recently sending a local tow-truck driver to the hospital with leg injuries.

A Johnson City Medical Center spokesperson said Dana Eggers, 27, was in fair condition Monday morning.

Eggers, a wrecker operator with Bill’s Garage in Boone was reportedly pinned against his wrecker by the driver of a sport utility vehicle Sunday afternoon.

N.C. Highway Patrol trooper Tim Hendrix said 53-year-old Grace Lefkowitz turned her 1996 Ford Explorer left off of northbound N.C. 105 onto Broadstone Road just before 1 p.m. and struck Eggers as he stood near his wrecker in the Ham Shoppe parking lot.

Hendrix said Lefkowitz would likely be charged in the incident. 

She reportedly claimed her view of the victim was obstructed by other cars in the parking lot of the popular tourist stop just east of Valle Crucis.

He said he intended to meet with the district attorney Monday morning to determine the charges.

Another accident five days before, sent three people to Watauga Medical Center following a collision at the same intersection of N.C. 105 and Broadstone Road.

James Wooten, 22, of Salisbury, was traveling south last Tuesday on N.C. 105 in his 2001 Dodge Intrepid when Elizabeth Bealieu, of Seven Devils, attempted a left turn with her 2005 Nissan from the northbound lane onto Broadstone Road.

A highway patrolman investigating the crash described the injuries to Wooten and his passenger, 25-year-old Kari Bowman, of Charleston, S.C., as “mostly cuts and bumps – nothing serious.”

The trooper also described injuries to Bealieu, 42, in similar terms.