A former intern writer for the Radford News Journal and News Messenger, and graduate of Radford University, has died in a vehicle crash.
Mercedes Diane Scales, 24, of Falls Church, Va., and formerly from Christiansburg, was pronounced dead at the scene of a single-vehicle crash on Sunday. She was a passenger in the vehicle.
“On Sunday, June 7, at 6:05 a.m., Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office deputies along with units from the Christiansburg Rescue Squad and the Christiansburg Fire Department responded to a report of a single-vehicle crash with entrapment in the 1500 block of Ellett Road, approximately one mile outside of Christiansburg,” according to a statement from Brian Wright of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. “Upon arrival, they located a 2017 Nissan Rogue over a steep embankment that had crashed into a tree.“
The driver, 24-year-old Preston Conner Jones from Peterstown, WVa., was transported by ambulance with serious injuries. He was charged with driving under the influence. Scales was pronounced dead at the scene. The crash remains under investigation by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and the New River Valley Regional Crash Investigation Team. Additional charges are pending.
