Bramblett died ‘almost immediately,’ Cahn reports

A man killed in an accident on Nov. 18 died almost immediately from injuries received during the course of the accident, said Medical Examiner Dr. Jack Cahn.

Cahn said 20-year-old Robert Allen Bramblett died from multiple trauma sustained during the accident. Bramblett was ejected through the passenger-side window of his vehicle, officials say, after striking a guardrail at a high rate of speed.

“The cause of death was head and chest trauma, which caused fatal damage to the brain and lungs,” Cahn said in a brief interview on Monday. He said a coroner’s autopsy on the victim was finished last week.

The accident that took Bramblett’s life took place on N.C. 18 north near the Crab Creek bridge on Nov. 18, but his body was not discovered until Nov. 21 when family members found him while searching the area where the accident occurred.

Bramblett had a Virginia driver’s license listing an address in Elk Creek, Va., but was an employee of the Sparta Burger King. According to family members, Bramblett left work on Thursday around 4 p.m. and was not heard from again.

Bramblett had been living part time in Elk Creek with his mother, Susan Meachum, and stepfather, Joe Meachum, and part time in Galax, Va. with his stepbrother, John Meachum. Bramblett’s vehicle was registered in Miami, Fla.

However, a spokesperson for Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center’s autopsy unit said it usually takes six to eight weeks for an official autopsy report to be completed.

A number of the N.C. Highway Patrol Troopers who helped investigate the fatality, including Sgt. C.L. McNeil, who is in charge of Ashe and Alleghany counties, could not be reached for comment by presstime on Tuesday.

Last week, McNeil said that the preliminary information showed that Bramblett’s 2003 Mitsubishi ran off the right side of the road, struck the guardrail and then continued down the road for about 700 to 800 feet. The vehicle came to rest partially in the roadway, McNeil said.

McNeil said it appears that Bramblett was ejected from the passenger-side window of the vehicle after the vehicle traveled a short distance after striking the guardrail. His body was located down an embankment about 100 feet from the road, several hundred feet from (south of) the area where his vehicle was located.

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