A truck driver is charged with five counts of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle after five people lost their lives Wednesday in a fiery crash on Interstate 95 in Wilson County.
“I have been in this business for 40 years, and to me, that was the most violent motor vehicle crash that I have ever responded to,” said Gordan Deno, director of Wilson County Emergency Management.
The wreck happened at 1:26 p.m. in the northbound lanes of I-95 at mile marker 113.5, which is about 3 miles south of N.C. 42. Deno said the crash scene was spread across roughly 100 yards of highway.
N.C. State Highway Patrol Sgt. Marcus Bethea, a state Department of Public Safety spokesperson, said three tractor-trailers and two passenger vehicles were involved.
“The crash occurred on a section of I-95 that was undergoing maintenance by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, and a lane closure was in effect at the time,” Bethea said in a Thursday morning release.
Bethea said a 2020 Freightliner hauling orange juice was headed north and failed to reduce speed as it approached slowed traffic ahead. According to Bethea, truck driver Charles Christian Haskell, 51, of Las Vegas, drove his tractor-trailer into the rear of a 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe.
After impact, Haskell’s truck continued north and struck a 2017 Toyota Rav 4, a 2024 Kenworth tractor-trailer and a 2014 International tractor-trailer.
Haskell’s truck “came to rest in the northbound travel lanes and caught on fire” and burned completely, Bethea said.
Occupants of the Tahoe, all deceased, were identified as driver William Carroll Tucker, 72, of Hephzibah, Georgia, and front passenger Elizabeth Sharon Tucker, 66, also of Hephzibah.
The Rav 4 occupants, all deceased, were identified as driver Edward Carroll Davis, 68, of Greenville; front-seat passenger Martha Warren Davis, 69, of Greenville; and right rear passenger Linda Warren Whitehurst, 80, of Robersonville.
The driver of the Kenworth truck was identified as Levar Donte Williams, 43, of Newberry, South Carolina. He was taken to Wilson Medical Center with minor injuries.
The driver of the International truck, Rafael Rodriguez, 52, of Princeton, was also treated for minor injuries at Wilson Medical Center.
Haskell was arrested and charged with five counts of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle. Haskell was taken to the Wilson County Detention Center and given a $25,000 secured bond. He remained incarcerated on Thursday morning.
The wreck created a major traffic backup stretching to U.S. 301 in Kenly.
Hundreds of cars and trucks were stuck as traffic came to a halt on the highway’s busy northbound lanes as the scene was cleared.
“During that process, you have two vehicles, unfortunately, that have people who have expired,” Deno said. “You still have to get them out of the vehicle, so you have two different extrication processes going on at the same time. It’s a bad situation.”
Northbound traffic at the scene was detoured for about nine hours, Bethea said.
He said the preliminary investigation by the N.C State Highway Patrol indicates speed was a factor in the wreck.
“Alcohol and/or drug impairment is not suspected,” Bethea said. “The investigation remains ongoing”
LOCAL RESPONDERS
“Everybody who was there was impacted,” Deno said. “They may not be actively working to get the deceased individuals out of the vehicles, but they’re having to work around all of that while it is happening and they are seeing this as it is happening, so it definitely affects them.”
Deno said firefighters from the Kenly, Rock Ridge, Contentnea, Crossroads (Lucama) and Micro volunteer fire departments responded to the scene.
“It impacts people differently; not everybody has the same experience from it,” he said. “It just depends on the person and what they have dealt with in the past and how well they can cope with those types of situations.”
Deno has served on a critical incident stress debriefing team for a number of years.
“One of the first things we tell people is that you have two parts of your life. You have the part before you were involved in that incident, and you have your life after that incident. Incidents like that change people,” Deno said. “It may not be an immediate change. It may take years, but something crops up down the road, and suddenly, everything from that incident comes flooding back.”
Deno said one of the fire departments involved has requested a critical incident stress debriefing team.
Also at the scene were personnel from Wilson County EMS, Johnston County EMS, the N.C. Department of Transportation, the N.C. State Highway Patrol and the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office.
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