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A Charlotte truck driver who had stopped to help another man on the U.S. 74 bridge across the Catawba River was about to dial 911 when he was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in August 2008, Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell said Monday.
Charla Dean Davis, 45, of Charlotte, was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Ronnie Gene Eudy, 40.
She was also charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, driving while impaired, two felony counts of hit and run, reckless driving and driving while license revoked. If convicted on all charges, she could serve up to 25-30 years in prison.
During his opening statement at Davis' trial on Monday, Bell said that when Eudy made the 911 connection he was hit “before he said a word.”
On the night of Aug. 7, Eudy stopped his tractor-trailer behind an SUV that had parked on the bridge. The SUV's driver, Calvin Adams, had suffered a stroke or seizure. Betty Faye Adams and Jerry Leach had gotten out of the SUV and were also struck by the hit-and-run driver. Adams suffered serious injuries and Leach lesser injuries.
Bell said Monday that Davis had been drinking earlier at Tony's Bar on the Mecklenburg side of the river. “She kept drinking and kept drinking,” he said. “Beer and Wild Turkey.”
She was driving in the westbound lane on the bridge headed back into Gaston County when the three pedestrians were hit, Bell said.
Davis kept going, then called a man in Mount Holly and asked if she could hide her car at his place, Bell said. She then called a woman to come get her.
Police found the car about 3a.m. the next day in a parking lot at an apartment building in Mount Holly. Davis then turned herself in to Belmont Police.
Davis' lawyer, Gus Anthony, called the bridge incident a “tragic accident” but said evidence will show that “it (bridge) was a bad spot to be in.”
He said the bridge was old “and not well lit” and that Calvin Adams' SUV was parked over the center line.
After the accident, another vehicle approached the scene, lost control and slid into the side of the bridge, Anthony said.
Evidence will also show that nobody saw Davis drinking alcohol and that there was a lack of evidence that any blood or breathalyzer tests were taken, he said.
During testimony, Davis, who wore a tan jacket and skirt, occasionally jotted on a legal pad. At one point, she turned to a group of family and friends seated in the rows behind her and said “Hey.”
The state's first witness, Betty Adams, walked slowly down the courtroom's center aisle, using a cane.
Adams, 49, of Bessemer City testified that she'd suffered two broken legs, a broken pelvis, hip and other injuries in the accident. A 15-year employee at Pharr Yarns, Adams said she could no longer work and was seeking disability.
In recalling the events of Aug. 7, Adams said she was in the front passenger seat of her cousin's vehicle and hit the brakes to stop the vehicle on the bridge after his stroke.
When she looked back, she saw a tractor-trailer coming up from behind and got out. She met Eudy, who asked what was going on as he talked to his wife on the cell phone.
“He told her that he loved her,” Adams said. “And that he was calling 911. That's all I remember.”
Bell said the trial will probably last through Wednesday. Davis is being held in the Gaston County Jail under an $810,000 bond.
