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Man thrown from truck during crash found dead on top of Spring Lake home

The body of a man thrown from a car in a crash Wednesday night was recovered from the roof of a Spring Lake home Thursday morning.

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SPRING LAKE, N.C. — The body of a man thrown from a car in a crash Wednesday night was recovered from the roof of a Spring Lake home Thursday morning.

According to authorities, Maurice McLaughlin, 45, died when his Chevrolet Silverado hit a ditch and flipped on its side. His body was ejected and ended up on the roof of home on Ray Road.

Annamae Murphy, who witnessed the crash, said it happened Wednesday night, but it was too dark to see. When North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers arrived at the scene Thursday morning, they could not locate the vehicle.

"They said they come back here about 6:40, and they didn't see no wreck. But they didn't realize the car was up against the house," Murphy said.

Murphy said that, when the sun came up, she went outside and saw the vehicle and victim. She called 911.

"When they came back, it was daylight then, and then when you started looking, you could see a shoe on top of the house," she said.

David Knight said he knew McLaughlin well. They went to school together, and McLaughlin was a barber at the Anderson Creek Barber Shop. He was known as “Doc Da Roc.”

"He loved everyone, loves God," Knight said. "If you came by here, you didn't have a choice but to pass flowers back and forth because he was a happy person."

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