Scott’s Branch coach killed in wreck

Ruth Coard

UPDATE 1/27/12; 9:35 a.m.: Ruth Coard, varsity girls head basketball coach at Scott’s Branch High School, was killed in a one-vehicle accident at 8:10 p.m. Thursday night on U.S. 378 in Sumter County.

Coard and her 10-year-old son were travelling west on U.S. 378 in a 2008 Chevrolet pickup when the vehicle struck a horse in the roadway then travelled off the road striking a tree.

Sumter County Coroner Harvin Bullock said Coard died at 8:42 p.m.

Lance Cpl. Sonny Collins with the South Carolina Highway Patrol said Coard was not wearing her seatbelt.

The accident is still under investigation.