Indiana councilman and wife die after South Carolina crash

TERRE HAUT, Ind. — Elected officials in Indiana were mourning a county councilman and his wife who recently died after being struck by a car in South Carolina.

Vigo County Councilman Donald Morris and Cheryl Hart were visiting Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Two vehicles collided Thursday afternoon and one struck Morris and Hart, who were pedestrians on a nearby sidewalk. The Horry County coroner’s office in South Carolina identified Morris and Hart on Friday.

The 67-year-old Morris was newly-elected and previously a city council member in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was also a professional musician, according to a county bio. Hart was 63. Morris and Hart had two children.

“Don was a staple in the Terre Haute community through his years of service on the Terre Haute City Council and the Vigo County Council,” U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon of Indiana said in a statement. “A true public servant that entertained the public with his guitar and vocals which will forever remain in our ears.”

Morris became a councilman in western Indiana’s Vigo County in November after a dozen years on the Terre Haute City Council.

County Commissioner Chris Switzer called Morris an “all-around good guy.”

“He’s really going to be missed by a lot of people,” he told WTHI-TV in Terre Haute. “It’s terrible.”