Tragic DUI Kills One on Hillside Road in New Hanover County, North Carolina (NC)

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC - Wect.com writes that a deadly crash killed a woman in New Hanover County, leading to a driver facing murder charges. The driver, identified as a 30-year-old man from New Hanover County, was reportedly intoxicated when he struck a pedestrian, killing the woman.*

The victim's body was later discovered in the evening on Hillside Road close to Carolina Beach Road. Responders rushed the woman to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center, but she was declared dead. 

Based on evidence at the scene of the crash, police identified the suspect's vehicle as a 2013 Chevrolet pickup truck. Officers were then able to identify the driver, who was later charged with driving while drunk, death by motor vehicle, and reckless driving, but later, those charges were upgraded to second-degree murder.

Drunk driving crashes kill more than 10,000 people in the United States every year. The numbers work out to about one death every 50 minutes. 

Both North and South Carolina fall into the ten worst states for drunk driving incidents in the nation, according to a recent study. The report looked both at the number of motorists in a state that have been arrested for driving under the influence, as well as the number of fatalities caused by drunk drivers in each state. Based on a per capita analysis of each of these factors, the study ranked all 50 states.

North Carolina came in seventh, and South Carolina came in eighth out of all states. In 2018, North Carolina lost 421 people in drunk driving-related collisions. In South Carolina, these incidents killed 291 people that same year. 

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Sources:

https://www.wect.com/2020/06/30/suspect-fatal-dwi-hit-and-run-now-charged-with-second-degree-murder/

https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving

https://www.wect.com/2019/11/20/carolinas-fall-into-top-list-worst-states-drunk-driving/