According to an accident report, 32-year-old David Coker Jr. was driving a 2006 Audi on T.W. Alexander Drive and did not stop at the red light.
Police said Coker was going about 60 mph when he struck a 2012 Dodge driven by Kossivi Gadegbeku. Gadegbeku was driving about 55 mph on Glenwood Avenue at the intersection of T.W. Alexander when it happened.
Gadegbeku, 42, of Raleigh, was pronounced dead at the scene.
A passenger in Gadegbeku's vehicle was taken to Duke Hospital. Officials said 42-year-old Laura Galdamez, of Durham, suffered serious injuries. She is at Duke Hospital in serious condition.
Coker was originally charged with DWI, failure to stop at a red light, and causing felony death and felony serious injury. He was taken to Duke Hospital and stayed until Tuesday afternoon. When he arrived at the Wake County Detention Center Tuesday to be booked, officials said he would also face second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon charges.
Coker was also charged with DWI in Jan. 2010.
Gadegbeku was an African immigrant who came to this country in 1996 to flee political strife and search for a better life.
"He decided that from nothing he was going to make it," said family member Comlan Anan. "He knows well what to do. He went to school while he was working."
Laronda Scott, the State Executive Director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, weighed in on the tragedy.
"My thoughts go directly to the families because I know, especially if there's a fatality, there's a family who is forever changed," said Scott. "This is the one thing, the one cause where it's 100 percent preventable."
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