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No charges are expected in the Wednesday evening wreck that claimed the life of an Appomattox child, according to State Police.
Trooper G.A. Smith said based on the account of an independent witness, 16-year-old Braxton Elliot, of Appomattox, had a green arrow allowing him to turn his Chevrolet Tahoe into the Shoppes of Appomattox shopping center on U.S. 460.
When Elliot attempted to make the left turn at the center’s stoplight, at 6:38 p.m., he struck the driver’s side of a Pontiac minivan driven by Pamela Chappell, 45, of Appomattox.
Chappell’s 11-year-old son, Wayne Kenneth Chappell, along with two other juveniles, was ejected from the minivan when it overturned.
He was airlifted to the University of Virginia Medical Center with critical injuries. He died Thursday afternoon.
Wayne’s father, Darrell Chappell, also sustained injuries in the wreck, and was airlifted to Lynchburg General Hospital. Smith said his injuries were not life threatening.
The two other juveniles thrown from the vehicle received minor injuries. Neither they nor Wayne were wearing seatbelts. One child was restrained in a safety seat, and did not receive any injuries.
Elliot and one of his passengers received minor injuries and were treated at Lynchburg General Hospital.
Two other passengers in the Tahoe were not injured.
Smith said an accident reconstruction team has yet to reconstruct the scene, but even after they do, he said does not believe the investigation will lead to any charges.
One eyewitness’s testimony is the only indicator of the stoplight’s status, making it hard to file any charges against either driver, Smith said.
“It’s one of those cases where, if we had red light cameras, that would have taken care of the whole problem,” he said.
“(Regardless), the camera won’t bring a child back, but it certainly would have helped with a little something.”
Reader Reactions
It is sad that this young man just beginning his life had to die like that. Even though there are stop lights at this intersection, for some reason almost noone goes the speed limit. There are accidents here all the time and it always seems to be on 460 east. People drive all the way through in the turning lane off of the ramp all the way up to Food Lion and the Super 8 Motel. People need to realize this is not a continuous lane. Someone can be turning into Express Lane or Food Lion from the correct lane and then you have some idiot that is continuously coming through the turning lane where they should have turned into Kroger or at the stoplight. I hate driving in that section. PEPLE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION AND GO THE SPEED LIMIT. You keep mentioning cameras, there are things that look like cameras on the poles - ARE THEY NOT WORKING, ARE THEY JUST FOR LOOKS. Be for real people, if the county or VDOT is going to put cameras on a pole make sure they work and are not just for looks to supposedley scare people.
No charges against the mother driving the van who didn’t yield? And didn’t have her children in a seat belt? Child endangerment, maybe? I understand that she is being punished by her son dying, but it’s her fault!!!
oldman, they aren’t saying that it’s nobody’s fault; they’re saying that they can’t prove whose fault it was.
The traffic lights installed at this location were supposed to prevent this very thing. So much for that. Situation at hand, (3) children are thrown from a vehicle after impact with a SUV turns it on it’s side, an (11) year old dies the next day, and no one is at fault. Maybe if we close our eyes and wish really hard this didn’t happen. Get real.
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