A Charlotte man faces various charges in connection with a hit-and-run that took place this past Memorial Day. The charges include driving while impaired and driving with a revoked license; further, he has four previous charges of driving with a revoked license. This was his fifth arrest in six months, and by far his most serious. Police report that the 45-year-old victim was in the middle of an intersection, waiting to make a left turn at a green light, when he was struck by a Nissan Xterra driven by the 20-year-old driver, who ran a red light. Thereafter, the driver fled from the scene on foot.
The tragedy occurred when the victim’s passenger was ejected from the car on impact; he and the driver were pronounced dead on the scene. About 40 minutes after the wreck, the driver of the Xterra returned to the scene. He was taken to Charlotte Medical Center for minor injuries; while at the hospital he was charged with driving while impaired and driving while license revoked. Further, it is reported that he is being held on a $900,000 bond.
In North Carolina, when someone is charged with a DWI, both the defense and the prosecution will be required to present aggravating and mitigating factors to increase or decrease the sentence of DWI. Here, the driver has a slew of aggravating factors such as driving while his license is revoked, four previous charges in six months, and most importantly, the death of two people. After aggravating and mitigating factors are presented, a determination will be made as to what the sentence will be in accordance to the level system. In the state of North Carolina, a Level 1 offender is the most serious and a Level 5 offender is the least serious. Here, the driver will be dealing with the reality of attempting to mitigate from being a Level 1 offender due to severity of the factors and the fact that people were killed.
