A mother is dead after state troopers say she rear-ended a state DOT dump truck this afternoon. They blame the crash on cell phone distraction.
The Highway Patrol says the accident happened around 2:15 p.m. on Highway 24 near the Highway 172 intersection.
Troopers have identified the woman as 33-year-old Deanna Childs of Swansboro.
The woman's vehicle received heavy front end damage in the crash.
Troopers say the DOT was in the area picking up animal carcasses and other vehicles had gone around the dump truck.
Childs was the mother of a 7-year-old boy. Troopers say she was distracted by her cell phone, and apparently didn't see the DOT truck in front of her.
