MURFREESBORO – Hertford County’s first fatal motor vehicle accident of the year is allegedly the fault of an impaired driver.

Jessica Monet Smith, 27, of Como died Saturday at Vidant Roanoke-Chowan Hospital in Ahoskie when the driver of the vehicle in which she was a front seat passenger lost control and slammed into a tree on US 158 Business in Murfreesboro.

The single-vehicle accident occurred at 11:57 a.m. near Riverview Elementary School.

According to the accident report filed by North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper B.P. Daniel, 53-year-old Jennifer Taylor Miles of Aulander was operating a 2000 Lincoln and traveling southeast on US 158 Business.

The crash sequence began when the vehicle veered off the right side of the road, striking the curb, at which time Miles overcorrected. That caused the vehicle to go left of center, eventually reaching the curb on that side of the highway. After striking that curb, the vehicle continued to travel off the roadway to the left where it impacted a tree, on the passenger’s side, and came to rest.

Smith was transported to Vidant R-CH where she later died of injuries sustained in the crash.

Miles was also transported to the same hospital, and later airlifted to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville. It was reported she suffered serious injuries and remains hospitalized.

In his report, Daniel listed speed, use of alcohol, and use of drugs as contributing factors to the accident. He also noted that neither the driver nor passenger were wearing seat belts.

To date, Miles stands charged with DWI. The Highway Patrol office in Ahoskie reports that other charges are pending.

The fatality was the fourth of the year in the Highway Patrol’s Troop A / District II area (Bertie, Gates and Hertford counties).