VIRGINIA BEACH 

A man thrown from the vehicle he was driving went untended for hours after it crashed early Saturday in the rural south end because no one saw the wreck in the darkness, police said.

Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman, said the crash occurred along the 5700 block of Blackwater Road, near Hungarian Road.

Bernstein identified the victim as Joseph Hearn, 26, of the 100 block of West Gibbs Road just across the state line in Currituck County, N.C.

He said crash investigators determined that the vehicle was going about 85 mph when it left the road and flipped two or three times.

Hearn was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected before the vehicle came to rest in a wheat field, about 200 yards from the road.

Alcohol and speed were factors in the crash, Bernstein said.

The time of the wreck is unknown. Bernstein said investigators found that Hearn made a phone call about 2 a.m. But the crash was not reported until about sunrise.

A passer-by saw the vehicle and called police, Bernstein said. About then, a Currituck County sheriffs deputy also spotted it, stopped and walked into the field to investigate and found the body. 

Paramedics arrived and the victim was pronounced dead.

Police searched the area and called in a helicopter to make certain no one else was involved in the wreck, but Bernstein said there was no sign of anyone else.