CU student killed in Oconee

A Clemson student from Pennsylvania died early today of injuries suffered in a car crash in Oconee County. The death of Tyler Earl Sands of Exton, Pennsylvania came on Sands’ 22nd birthday. He was a passenger in a 2008 Audi A-R that Coroner Karl Addis says was driven by Sands’ friend Patrick Michael McCool, 20-year old resident of Vienna, Virginia. McCool was sent to the Oconee Medical Center to be evaluated. According to Addis, the car was headed east around 12:15 a-m on the Shiloh Road when it ran off the road surface along the right shoulder before hitting a tree at what appears to be a high rate of speed. The coroner said alcohol and speed are suspected as probable contributing factors. The SC Highway Patrol is investigating.