NC truck driver sent to prison for wreck that killed CMPD Officer Mia Goodwin
A High Point truck driver was sent to prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to his role in a December 2021 interstate collision that killed a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer.
On Dec. 22, 2021, Officer Mia Goodwin, 33, was struck and killed by the rig driven by Daniel Morgan while she was helping with traffic control on Interstate 85 involving an earlier accident in University City.
Daniel Morgan was driving the truck that hit Goodwin, a mother of three who had recently returned to active duty from maternity leave.
On Thursday, Morgan, 52, pleaded guilty in a Mecklenburg County courtroom to a series of charges related to the officer’s death. Given the chance to speak, Morgan broke down in tears as he repeatedly apologized to Goodwin’s family, a courtroom observer said.
Under an agreement with the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office, Morgan pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, felony failure to move over, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, reckless driving and fictitious tags.
The charges were then consolidated under the failure to move over count. Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Archie then sentenced Morgan to 16 to 29 months.
Morgan was at the wheel of one of two tractor-trailer rigs that collided on I-85 South before crashing into CMPD vehicles near W.T. Harris Boulevard, the scene of the earlier wreck. Goodwin was killed and three other CMPD officers were injured.
Goodwin and the other officers were assisting the State Highway Patrol with traffic control from the earlier wreck.
