One of two teen-aged girls out for a ride with friends was thrown from the back of a pickup truck yesterday, after the driver skidded off a road and through some gravel. Trooper Joe Rankin with the North Carolina Highway Patrol tells me 18-year old Matthew Lynn Beal of North Wilkesboro was at the wheel of the 1987 Chevy pickup about noon yesterday when the wreck happened:

17-year old Sabrina Ayers of Moravian Falls was in critical condition at last report, with severe head injuries. Friends and family indicate she is on life support. Trooper Rankin says there were two other people in the front of the truck, and another teen-aged girl in the back. He doesn't know why Ayers was thrown out, but the other girl remained in the truck bed. He says Beal left the scene of the wreck and returned just as Ayers was about to be airlifted out. The boy was ticketed for reckless driving and for leaving the scene of an accident.

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