WINDSOR – One person is dead and another is hospitalized in critical condition following a single vehicle crash near here early Sunday morning.

First responders to the accident scene, approximately 2.4 miles west of Windsor on NC 308, found Michael Johnson II, 28, of Windsor deceased in a field off the roadway.

The other victim is 25-year-old Shauna Bazemore of Windsor. She is currently hospitalized at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.

First Sgt. Mike Warren of the North Carolina Highway Patrol office in Ahoskie stated it was unclear at this stage of the investigation of who was behind the wheel at the time of the 4:48 a.m. accident.

“Both occupants were not wearing seat belts and both were ejected from the vehicle into a field,” Warren said. “We have yet to speak with Miss Bazemore due to the extent of her injuries as to which victim was driving the vehicle.”

Warren did note that the vehicle, a 2011 Chevrolet passenger car, was registered to Bazemore.

“But we still do not know which one was behind the wheel; for that reason this accident remains an open investigation,” Warren noted.

The accident scene, as investigated by Highway Patrol Trooper J.V. Reid, showed that the vehicle traveled left of the center line, at which time the driver overcorrected. That caused the vehicle to travel off the right side of the road, where it struck a ditch and began to overturn. Both occupants were ejected during that roll-over.

Warren said Reid’s report showed that speed may be a factor in the cause of the accident. It is not known at this time if alcohol consumption was involved.

The fatality was the third in the Highway Patrol’s Troop A / District II area for 2016. It was the first of the year in Bertie County.