Charges filed against teen driver in fatal wreck
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on January 31, 2017 5:21 PM
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Mount Olive firefighters regroup after responding to a wreck Monday night along U.S. Highway 117 near Mount Olive. Two teens were injured and another was killed when the car went off the road, hit a ditch and was sent airborne into a telephone pole causing it to flip several times.
The N.C. State Highway Patrol has charged 16-year-old Devin Ryan James, of Dudley, with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle in a Monday night wreck near Mount Olive that killed another teenager.
Both James and another 16-year-old were sent to the hospital with injuries of their own. They were each treated and released, troopers said.
The single-car wreck killed 16-year-old Matthew Hunter Brickhouse, of Mount Olive, who was riding in the right-rear passenger seat at the time of the crash.
The third victim was in the front passenger seat, and James was driving the 2016 Chevrolet Impala, Trooper J.S. Smith said.
Smith said James was driving approximately 85 mph at the time of the crash ---- just before 9 p.m.
Smith said on the scene Monday night James was driving east down Baker Chapel Church Road when he came to the end of the road and hit a ditch, which sent the car flying through a telephone pole.
The car then flipped several times across U.S. Highway 117, traveling exactly 200 feet from where James struck the ditch before coming to rest in the median, Smith said.
The crash shut down the southbound lane of the highway at Country Club Road and reduced northbound traffic down to one lane.
A power line also fell across the highway.
Smith said all three teenagers had their seat belts on at the time of the wreck.
This story updates an earlier report. See the initial story by following the link below.
http://www.newsargus.com/news/archives/2017/01/31/mount_olive_teen_killed_in_wreck_monday/