4 dead in Charlotte area wrecks over New Year’s, cops say, including 2 duck hunters
Four people died in wrecks on Charlotte-area roads over the New Year’s holiday, police said.
A 21-year-old man who died on New Year’s Eve was speeding as he failed to negotiate a curve, hit another car head-on and was ejected.
Noah Skylar Barbee was not wearing a seatbelt as he lost control and hit the oncoming car in the 7400 block of Pence Road, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department news release.
Pence Road is off East W.T. Harris Boulevard in east Charlotte.
Barbee was pronounced dead at the scene of the wreck, which happened just after 7 p.m., according to the CMPD major crash investigation unit.
The driver and passengers in the other car were hospitalized with injuries that ranged from serious to minor, police said.
About 1 a.m. Friday, a person died and four others were hurt, including a CMPD officer, in a crash on Interstate 85 south at Sugar Creek Road in Charlotte, Observer news partner WBTV reported citing the State Highway Patrol. No names were released.
At 4 a.m. New Year’s Day, 19-year-old Garrison Smith and 21-year-old Shad Little died when their F-350 veered off N.C. 218 near Burnsville Road in Union County, troopers told WBTV.
Smith and Little were on their way to go duck hunting, the station reported. The cause of the wreck was not immediately known, although speed did not appear to be a factor, according to WBTV and other news outlets.