1 killed, 22 injured after impaired driver strikes bicyclists in North Carolina, officials say

By Sydney Bishop, Eduardo Cuevas, CNN

(CNN) — A group of cyclists was winding its way through a wooded, two-lane road outside of Raleigh on Saturday morning when a car crossed the center line and plowed into them, killing one and injuring nearly two dozen, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said.

A North Carolina man faces several felony charges after allegedly hitting the group and driving away.

The cyclists were traveling together amid the fall colors along Optimist Farm Road, in Wake County, about 14 miles southwest of Raleigh, when an oncoming black passenger car crossed the center line and into the group, the highway patrol said.

The driver, later identified as 76-year-old Donald Robert Morris-Jones, continued driving before running off the left side of the roadway into a ditch, about a half-mile from where he hit the cyclists, authorities said.

Patrick Allen Turner, a 63-year-old cyclist from Cary, North Carolina, died in the crash, the highway patrol announced.

First responders found 22 others injured. Seven with more serious injuries were taken to regional trauma centers and 15 others were hospitalized, Chief LeRoy Smith of the Holly Springs Fire Department told CNN.

Morris-Jones, of Apex, North Carolina, was taken into custody and faces multiple charges, including hit-and-run causing serious injury or death, serious injury by a vehicle, and driving while impaired. He’s set to appear in court on Monday afternoon, court records show.

CNN is working to determine whether he has legal representation.

Video of the aftermath of the crash showed law enforcement inspecting a stack of bikes propped up against a guardrail along the road. Some cyclists were still at the scene, video showed, including one man walking around with a phone to his ear, still wearing his bike helmet.

One of the cyclists told CNN affiliate WRAL they frequently ride along the route together as part of the Capital Cycling Club.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Nic F. Anderson and Jim Rogers contributed to this report.