A second former Coker College baseball player has been charged in connection with a crash that killed a Hartsville woman four years ago.
Jeffery William Whitcomb, 27, of 25520 New Castle Court, Saugus, Calif., is charged with felony driving under the influence, Darlington County Detention Center booking reports show.
Effie Mae Arthur, 54, died in the crash on S.C. 151 early the morning of Oct. 27, 2005.
Whitcomb voluntarily returned to South Carolina on Monday to be served with the indictment and was released on a $25,000 surety bond, 4th Circuit Solicitor Will Rogers said.
The decision was made to charge Whitcomb in the case so that he and Craig Zumwinkel, 26, of Ellisville, Mo., could be tried together, Rogers said.
Zumwinkel also is charged with felony DUI and free on $75,000 bail set by a circuit court judge after being denied by a county judge, then-4th Circuit Solicitor Jay Hodge said in a previous interview. Zumwinkel wasn’t allowed to post a percentage of the bond nor property outside South Carolina.
Hodge opposed bail for Zumwinkel because he said he considered him a flight risk. Zumwinkel left South Carolina once the S.C. Highway Patrol sought him on a warrant in connection with the crash.
The trial is scheduled to begin March 1, Rogers said.
Whitcomb and Zumwinkel were riding in Whitcomb’s truck along S.C. 151 when it crossed the median and struck Arthur’s car. They suffered minor injuries in the crash and soon were removed from the Cobra’s baseball roster.
The highway patrol’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team concluded the truck has been traveling at 81 mph when it struck Arthur’s vehicle, Hodge said.
Rogers said it will be up to a jury to decide whether Whitcomb or Zumwinkel was the driver of the truck.
Zumwinkel also had a DUI arrest in Missouri in 2004, Hodge said.
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