No additional charges in fatal Wake County wreck involving texting

Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Accident along US-64 in Wake County
Hicks was driving this vehicle.
wtvd

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman says no additional charges will be filed against a man involved in a fatal accident May 30 along US-64 in Wake County, near the Franklin County line.

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While investigators said 42-year-old Erik Christian Hicks of Knightdale was texting, a crash reconstruction by the North Carolina Highway Patrol showed that 53-year-old Judy Marie Claybourne of Zebulon pulled out into the road in a way that made it impossible for Hicks to avoid the crash.

Darryl and Judy Claybourne
Claybourne family via Facebook

"While texting is dangerous and can lead to traffic fatalities and he should not have been doing it, in this case it was determined that was not the cause of the accident therefore there no basis on which to bring additional charges," said Freeman.

Freeman said the Highway Patrol pulled the computer downloads of each vehicle and were able to determine the rate of speed they were traveling when the crash happened. While Hicks was traveling the speed limit along the 70 mph highway, Freeman said Claybourne was pulling onto the road going 6 mph when Hicks crashed into her car.

Hicks remains charged with texting while driving and not wearing a seatbelt.

Erik Christian Hicks
image courtesy Raleigh-Wake City-County Bureau of Identification

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