An 85-old Beaufort County man died Thursday afternoon in a head-on collision on a Jasper County highway, according to the Coroner’s Office.
Charles Chaplin, the driver of a Cadillac SRX, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which took place around 4:25 p.m. on Highway 462, Jasper County Coroner Willie P. Aiken III announced.
Headed south, Chaplin was driving around another vehicle when he lost control and went into the northbound lane, striking a Ford Explorer head-on, Aiken said.
The other driver was taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah and was still in the hospital as of Tuesday afternoon.
Born in Port Royal in 1938, Chaplin served in the U.S. Air Force before becoming a full-time commercial fisherman in coastal South Carolina, a vocation that became his “heart and soul,” according to his obituary. Remembering Chaplin by his fondness for animals, his family encourages donations to the Beaufort County Animal Shelter or Jasper Animal Rescue Misson.
A service for Chaplin is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, April 20, at Anderson Funeral Home, to be followed by burial with military honors in Beaufort National Cemetery.
The Ridgeland Police Department is investigating the crash.
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