SOPHIA N.C. – A local trucker has been charged by the North Carolina Highway Patrol, in connection with a fatal crash that occurred on NC 87 in Columbus County last week.
According to a press release from the NC Highway Patrol, at 2:46 p.m. on Thursday, August 10th, 2023, Troopers responded to a crash on NC 87 near John L Riegel Road in Columbus County.
Investigators say that Nicholas Reid Fellers, 28, from Sophia, N.C., was traveling south on NC 87, in a Freightliner box truck when he failed to reduce speed striking the rear of a tractor-trailer that had stopped due to road construction.
Fellers received serious life-threatening injuries and was transported to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, N.C.
A front seat passenger in Fellers vehicle, Gabriel Ahmaad McCurdy, 35, of Thomasville, N.C., died on-scene.
The driver of the other truck that Fellers struck was uninjured.
Fellers was charged with failure to reduce speed and misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.