News 12 at 6, June 28, 2009

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C.---A fiery accident kills one man in front of the Cheap Cigarettes store, where one worker who says this was bound to happen one day.

Gregory Maree, 35, was pronounced dead in his car, after striking the sidewalk outside and hitting two empty gas tanks. The car then burst into flames.

"I was coming to sit down when all of a sudden I hear crash and glass and a big boom," said worker Vickie Smith.

She watched helplessly, saying the few minutes it took firefighters to get there seemed like hours.

"I was hopeful they might be alive but when there wasn't any screams or anything I knew it wasn't pretty," she said.

Officers say Maree was partially ejected and not wearing his seat belt. Now they're trying to figure out exactly what happened, but they say he must have been going well above the speed limit, which was 45 miles an hour.

Smith says speeding is a big factor on this curve and she's seen this day coming for a long time now.

"I just wish people would slow down because they come speeding past here doing 80 and 90 all the time," she said. "Just slow down here on these roads. It's not worth it."

This is the 20th fatal crash in aiken county this year.

Investigators are unsure if there were any other factors involved, and are still in the process of doing toxicology reports.