A 67-year-old Charleston man died after a driver lost control of their vehicle while exiting the automated wash tunnel at a Savannah Highway car wash, striking him as he walked through the parking lot. The Charleston County Coroner's Office identified the victim Monday as John Ganter, closing out a grim 24 hours that began with the collision Sunday morning and ended with confirmation of his death.
According to the Post and Courier, Charleston police responded around 10:45 a.m. Sunday to the Whistle Express Car Wash at 1109 Savannah Highway, where they determined the driver had lost control of the vehicle while pulling out of the wash tunnel and struck Ganter in the lot. Ganter died while receiving emergency care, the paper reported. Live 5 News reported that Charleston County EMS transported Ganter to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:12 a.m.
The car wash was closed for a stretch Sunday while investigators processed the scene, per the same Live 5 News report, which also noted that Charleston Police and the Charleston Fire Department both responded to the crash. As of Monday, no criminal charges had been filed in connection with the collision, according to the Post and Courier.
Coroner Confirms Identity a Day Later
The Charleston County Coroner's Office formally identified Ganter, of Charleston, on Monday, a day after the crash, the Post and Courier reported. WCIV reported that Ganter died at MUSC from injuries sustained after being struck by the vehicle. The Charleston Police Department continues to investigate the collision, and no further details about the driver have been released.
Part of a Wider Pattern on Charleston Roads
Sunday's crash adds to a troubling run of fatal collisions this year. The Post and Courier reported that the incident marked the fifth fatal auto-pedestrian collision the Charleston Police Department has investigated in 2026, out of 12 total fatal traffic events, while ABC News 4 described it as the department's twelfth fatal traffic-related collision of the year — the two outlets offering differing counts of where the crash ranks among the department's caseload.
The wider numbers paint a stark picture of pedestrian danger in the region. Cars hit pedestrians in Charleston County almost every other day on average, and about 1,800 pedestrians and cyclists were injured by vehicles countywide between 2018 and September 2024, according to a separate Post and Courier analysis. That same reporting found that drivers killed more than 150 people in Charleston County over the period studied, with more than half of those deaths occurring on just five state-owned roads designed to move traffic quickly.
The trend extends statewide and nationally: nearly 1,000 pedestrians and cyclists were killed in South Carolina from 2018 through 2022, the Post and Courier reported, and Charleston ranked fifth among the nation's most dangerous areas for pedestrians. South Carolina was the third most dangerous state for pedestrians.
No further updates on the investigation into Ganter's death had been released as of Monday.
