Case still pending against driver
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on January 16, 2006 1:51 PM
Goldsboro police say they are continuing to put together their case against a driver who allegedly struck two 13-year-old eighth-graders last year as they crossed East Ash Street near Greenwood Middle School.
Police Sgt. Trey Ball said when he completes the investigation, he will send his case file to the District Attorney's Office for review.
Mejia
The driver has been identified by his lawyer as 24-year-old Wilder Fidelmar Alvarado Mejia of Bennett's Bridge Road, Mount Olive. Mejia remains in the Wayne County Jail on felony and misdemeanor charges under a $200,000 secured bond.
The students, Mackenzie Wessels and Carson Thomas, were hit at about 7:30 a.m. Nov. 18 by a sport utility vehicle in the crosswalk between Greenwood Middle and Meadowlane Elementary schools. A third student with them was not injured.
The teens, who live at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, were rushed to Wayne Memorial Hospital, where they were stabilized and then transferred to Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville.
Wessels was treated, admitted and released in less than a week.
Thomas was hospitalized with critical injuries. His condition was later upgraded several times, and now he is reported in good condition.
When Mejia was arrested shortly after the collision, he gave the name "Luis Delgado Jesus" to police.
Sgt. Ball said Mejia's lawyer has said his client had entered the United States legally on a Guatemalan passport, although he is not a U.S. citizen.
Mejia was charged at first with four misdemeanor traffic offenses -- reckless driving, driving while his license was revoked, a stoplight violation and an expired registration.
Later, the District Attorney's Office charged Mejia with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon while inflicting serious injury.
Mejia was charged Sept. 30 with driving without a license and expired registration. A trial on those charges was scheduled for Jan. 23 in Wayne County District Court. But lawyer Robert M. Smith said the case likely will be continued pending the outcome of the felony charges.
Until 2005, Mejia had been convicted only once, in 2003, of charges of speeding and no operator's license. He paid a $100 fine and court costs.