Sledding is a great activity if you live in a place that gets enough snow. It’s also a very easy way to have some snow day fun. You can turn just about anything into a sled: a cardboard box, a garbage can lid, or even just a plastic bag. Sledding, however, also can be incredibly dangerous, even in the most controlled situations. A woman and her daughter in South Carolina learned this the hard way. While they were sledding, they were involved in a hit-and-run accident, and the person who hit them was allegedly the woman’s fiancé, Richard Quinn Davidson. Currently, it’s unknown if he hit them on purpose or if it was an accident.
The incident took place on January 31, 2026, around 8 p.m. in Beaufort, WSAV reported. A witness said two women were being pulled behind a vehicle on a plastic container lid, per WJCL. But when the vehicle made a turn, it left the two women stranded in the road.
Moments later, they were struck by a 2022 Dodge Ram pickup truck driven by 46-year-old Richard Davidson.
Witness Emma Schoenstra spoke with WJCL, saying she saw the women, who she says are a mother and daughter, being pulled.
“They were being dragged by a rope attached to a truck on a container lid just up and down the snow, having fun,” she said. When she heard the impact, she immediately ran outside to help the women until emergency services came.
“I was wrapping up their hands that were laying in the snow, wrapping up their feet, they had lost their shoes,” she continued, per the outlet. “I was just wrapping all of their limbs that were touching the ice so they could stay warm until the ambulance got here.”
Schonestra also confirmed the hit and run, saying the driver only paused briefly. “He did get back in his car and reversed out and left the scene,” she said, per WJCL.
The women’s conditions were considered “non-life-threatening.” The Island Packet reported. According to a police report obtained by the outlet, their injuries included a fractured skull, punctured lung, broken ribs, several broken vertebrae and a dislocated shoulder. No additional information has been given about their conditions.
The police report noted that witnesses told police that Davidson, who is allegedly engaged to the older woman, “asked why they were in the roadway” before he drove away.
Beaufort County deputies found the Dodge truck parked at his home, the police report read. South Carolina Highway Patrol officers also arrived at the home, setting up a perimeter.
Police were able to reach Davidson by phone “after several hours” and had him go outside so they could arrest him.
Davidson was booked into Beaufort County Jail around 2 a.m. on February 1 on two counts of felony DUI and two counts of felony hit-and-run involving great bodily injury, The Island Patch reported. Court records show he was released on personal recognizance bonds totaling $60,000 that same afternoon.
