3 South Carolina family members killed in crash, 4 injured

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities have identified a South Carolina man and two children who died in a pre-dawn rollover on an Arizona freeway that left four other family members injured.

Arizona Department of Public Safety officials said the seven people were traveling in a pickup truck from North Charleston, South Carolina to the west Phoenix area on Nov. 23 when the vehicle drove into the median and rolled over in the Casa Grande area south of Phoenix around 4 a.m.

DPS officials said three people were ejected from the pickup and declared dead at the scene.

They have been identified as 74-year-old John Henry White and two of his great-grandchildren — a 3-year-old girl and a 9-month-old boy.

DPS said four other people in the vehicle were seriously injured including three of White’s other great-grandchildren —a 13-year-old girl, a 5-year-old boy and a 9-month-old boy whose twin brother died in the crash.

White’s 33-year-old granddaughter — the mother of the five children — also was injured and taken to a hospital, authorities said.

DPS investigators said driver fatigue was a possible factor in the fatal rollover.