MURFREESBORO – A 21-year-old Woodland man, riding a bicycle along Benthall Bridge Road, tragically lost his life near here Saturday night after being struck twice by a different motor vehicle.

The Ahoskie office of the North Carolina Highway Patrol reports that Curtis Lee Benton Jr. was operating a bicycle southbound on the roadway, between the Murfreesboro Bypass and Producer’s Gin (cotton mill) at approximately 9:03 p.m.

At that time, Jessica Osoriorizo of Murfreesboro was driving a 2000 Honda passenger car southbound on the same roadway. Her vehicle made impact with the bicycle, causing Benton to be ejected. He landed in the southbound lane while Osoriorizo stopped just beyond the point of impact and parked her vehicle on the shoulder of the road.

The NCHP report, filed by Trooper J.G. Williams who investigated the accident scene, showed that one minute later (9:04 p.m.), a 2005 GMC truck, operated by 57-year-old Joseph Young of Conway, was southbound on Benthall Bridge Road and ran over Benton.

“The preliminary report shows that Mr. Benton was deceased following the initial impact,” stated First Sgt. Mike Warren of the Highway Patrol’s Ahoskie office. “We are waiting on a report from the state medical examiner’s office to confirm that.”

Warren stated that no charges have been filed against Osoriorizo or Young.

The fatality was the sixth of the year in the NCHP’s Troop A / District II area (Bertie, Gates and Hertford counties). Two of those highway-related deaths have been in Hertford County.