17 injured after church van, SUV collide on NC highway

STOKESDALE, NC (AP) — More than a dozen people are recuperating after a church bus from Virginia crashed into an SUV headed in the wrong direction on a North Carolina highway.

The State Highway Patrol said 17 people ranging in age from one month to 90 years old were injured in the crash early Sunday. Troopers said most were aboard a 15-passenger, rented van carrying members of a Jehovah’s Witness congregation from Martinsville, Virginia, to Salisbury, North Carolina.

The State Patrol says in a news release the SUV’s driver was charged with driving while impaired, careless and reckless driving, misdemeanor child abuse and other charges. Troopers say 35-year-old Diadra Rachel Shaffer of Stokesdale was driving with her infant fastened into the back seat.

Shaffer did not have a listed home telephone number Sunday.

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