A 17-year-old Hollister youth died Sunday afternoon following a crash on Highway 561.

North Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper J.T. Keeter said Marquis Morgan was driving south on Highway 561 in Hollister when he went off the road to the right in a Hyundai Elantra. The vehicle overturned and landed in a creek upside down. 

“The whole community pitched in,” Keeter said, in an effort to rescue the teen. “There were probably five to six bystanders in the water trying to get him out.”

That effort included fire departments, EMS and a local tow company, Keeter said.

Someone broke the vehicle glass to get Morgan out.

Littleton and Roanoke-Wildwood sent their dive teams to assist. The youth had been taken from the vehicle before the dive teams arrived, Keeter said.

Keeter said the investigation into the crash continues to determine what caused Morgan to travel off the road and to determine the cause of his death.

Morgan was wearing a seat belt, was not traveling above the posted speed limit and there were no signs of impairment.