Teen killed on highway named in memory of his father

Associated Press

WELLFORD, S.C.

Aaron Hill knew the road well, and not just because it was the route he took to high school every day. The five-mile stretch of highway was named in memory of his father, a soldier killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2008.

But on his way to class Thursday morning, the 18-year-old senior was killed when a pickup truck crossed the center line and smashed head-on into his car, authorities said.

Now the Hill family — and many others in this town of nearly 2,300 — are grieving again.

“It’s tragic. No one should have to go through this. They’ve been through so much,” said Sheriff Chuck Wright, a friend of the family. “It’s just unreal that he died on the same highway named after his father.”

The younger Hill was going to graduate in a few months and had talked about joining the military just like his father.

“Even after his father’s death, he kept a positive attitude. He kept that smile,” the sheriff said.

The teenager was pronounced dead at the scene along the section of two-lane Highway 129 known as the Sergeant Shawn F. Hill Memorial Highway. The driver of the pickup, Michael Blake White, 27, was taken to the hospital along with three students who had been in Hill’s car. Their conditions were not released.