Charlotte city worker on paid leave as police investigate crash that killed a biker
A Charlotte Department of Transportation worker is on paid administrative leave as police investigate a wreck that killed a motorcyclist on Tuesday, city officials said.
Just after 11 a.m., 81-year-old motorcyclist Patrick Carlos Ramia died when he merged left in front of a 2011 Ford Super Duty pickup traveling east on Freedom Drive between Camp Greene Street and Berryhill Road, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department news release Wednesday.
The pickup truck hit the back of Ramia’s 2020 Honda Monkey motorcycle, police said. Ramia fell off his bike, and the pickup hit him again, according to CMPD.
Police said 68-year-old Morris Vanba Massalay was driving the pickup. While no charges have been filed, the wreck remains under investigation, police said.
In a statement first reported by WSOC, city officials said Massalay was driving a CDOT truck and is on paid administrative leave pending the police investigation.
Police urged witnesses and anyone else with information about the crash to call CMPD Detective Matthew Pressley at 704-432-2169, extension 3, or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at 704-334-1600.
Head-on crash kills 1, injures another
A 29-year-old man died and another person was hurt in a crash on Mount Holly-Huntersville Road near Northwoods Forest Drive around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
Devon Oliver Kerr was driving a northbound Hyundai when he went left of center and hit a Honda Accord head-on driven by David Wayne Olney, whose age police didn’t release.
Medic pronounced Kerr dead at the scene, according to a police news release on Thursday.
Olney was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Kerr wasn’t wearing a seat belt, while Olney had his seat belt on, according to CMPD.
Anyone who saw or otherwise has information about the crash should call CMPD at (704) 432-2169, extension 5, or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tips line at 704-334-1600.
Other fatal wrecks in Charlotte
The wrecks were two of at least four involving a fatality on a Charlotte roadway this week:
▪ A driver involved in a crash on East Independence Boulevard early Tuesday died after he left his car and was hit by a driver suspected of speeding and being impaired by alcohol, police said.
Iyasu Gebrehawariat, the 73-year-old victim, left his Honda Accord to check on damage or collect items in his car when a Hyundai Sonata hit him about 12:15 a.m. in the 3300 block of the highway, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department news release. That’s near North Wendover Road.
Police said they found Gebrehawariat “unconscious and unresponsive,” and Medic responders pronounced him dead.
Keith Duncan Jr., the 36-year-old driver of the Hyundai, had serious injuries, according to CMPD.
In the earlier crash, Gebrehawariat’s eastbound car hit the left retaining wall of the highway and spun to a rest in the left lane, CMPD said. Police didn’t say if another car was involved in that wreck.
Officers obtained a warrant charging Duncan with felony death by vehicle that will be served when he’s released from the hospital.
Police urged anyone who saw the wrecks or has information about them to call CMPD Detective Chuck Jamieson at 704-432-2169, extension 3, or call the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at 704-334-1600.
▪ A person died and another had minor injuries after a crash that closed Interstate 85 North at Graham Street on Monday morning, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
This story was originally published August 9, 2022 at 6:42 PM.