A Greenwood man was killed when his vehicle crashed into a tree in the Center Grove area.
Nathaniel L. Kuniej, 24, died after his vehicle went off the road on Saddle Club Drive, north of Smokey Row Road, at 8:30 p.m. Friday in what investigators called a violent crash.
The sheriff’s office is investigating the accident.
Investigators have found the vehicle was traveling at a high speed and went off the road, losing control. The vehicle then went through a fence and struck a tree, splitting the vehicle in half, before striking more trees, the report said.
Kuniej was killed instantly, and died of blunt force trauma, the report said.
Shortly before the crash, a sheriff’s deputy had spotted Kuniej’s vehicle on Saddle Club Road, near Stones Crossing Road.
The deputy saw the vehicle cross into the other lane to pass another vehicle on the road in a no passing zone, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office report.
The deputy turned around to stop the vehicle, but could no longer see it due to the hilly road and the time it took him to turn around, the report said.
When the deputy neared Smokey Row Road, he saw debris in the road that had not been there before. He then saw the vehicle in pieces against two trees and called for other emergency workers to respond, the report said.
No other vehicles were involved in the crash, the report said.
