A woman from Canada was killed and her husband seriously injured Friday when the pair were struck by a truck while walking along U.S. 378 after leaving a restaurant about 17 miles east of Sumter just before 8 p.m.
Elizabeth Davies, 74, of Pembroke, Ontario, Canada, was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple trauma by Sumter County Coroner Verna Moore.

Her husband, Douglas Davies, 78, also of Pembroke, was seriously injured, Lance Cpl. Ron Johnson of the S.C. Highway Patrol said. Davies was airlifted to Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia, where he is in serious condition.

Johnson said the couple was struck by a 2002 Volvo flatbed truck driven by Jessie Hickman, 45, of Darlington, heading east on U.S. 378. The pedestrians were walking west along the side of the road but were in the roadway when the right front and side of the truck struck them, knocking both into a ditch.

The couple had just eaten at The Compass Restaurant and were walking back to their motel when they were struck.

Restaurant owner Ty Green was one of the last people to see the couple before they were hit. He said they were headed back to the Knight’s Inn motel, located across the road from the restaurant, when it happened.

“A few customers observed them checking traffic coming from Turbeville,” he said. “They saw them look and step out into the roadway.”

Green said several EMTs were eating at the time and rushed out to see if they could help.

“I flagged down a trooper who just happened to be passing by,” Green said. “We hadn’t even had time to call it in at that point.”

Green said he was concerned because it’s not the first accident at the intersection.

“And these are my customers,” he said.

Green, a Turbeville town councilman, said he has been seeking a traffic light for the intersection for more than a decade.

“It’s very dark right there (where the accident happened),” he said. “The only light comes from my sign, my restaurant and the lights from the Citgo gas station across the road. I’d like to see us do something.”

Green said the waitress who had waited on the couple was distraught after the accident.

“She kept saying, ‘I can’t believe I just talked with them,’” he said. He identified the waitress as an East Clarendon High School student but did not give her name.

“This was so upsetting for all of us,” he said.

Johnson said Hickman was driving 45 mph in a 45-mph zone and the Davies were both wearing dark clothing.

Alcohol was not involved and no charges will be filed, authorities said.