{"id":909639,"date":"2026-11-08T00:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T00:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/909639\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T00:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T00:40:13","slug":"apex-driver-in-deadly-dwi-bicycle-crash-faces-more-than-a-dozen-felonies-including-hit-and-run-wral-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/909639\/","title":{"rendered":"Apex driver in deadly DWI bicycle crash faces more than a dozen felonies, including hit-and-run :: WRAL.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Apex driver is facing more than a dozen felony charges and a $1 million bond following a Wake County bicycle crash that killed at least one rider and injured 20 others.<\/p>\n

Around 9:40 a.m. on Saturday, a car driven by an impaired driver hit several people riding bicycles on Optimist Farm Road near Talicud Trail in Wake County.<\/p>\n

Patrick Turner, 63, of Cary, died at the scene, and seven other people were taken to the hospital.<\/p>\n

The driver of the vehicle, Donald Robert Morris-Jones, 76, of Apex, is charged with driving while impaired, felony death by vehicle, seven counts\u00a0of felony serious injury by vehicle, eight counts of felony hit-and-run, reckless driving and driving left of the center.<\/p>\n

The State Highway Patrol said Morris-Jones drove a half-mile before crashing his car and stumbling out.\u00a0He\u2019s also accused of trying to flee the scene.<\/p>\n

Morris-Jones was jailed at the Wake County Detention Center under a $1 million secured bond.\u00a0According to court documents, he has no criminal record but is considered an overwhelming danger to society.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/\u00a9 WRAL<\/p>\n

Arrest warrants for Morris-Jones describe the cyclists’ injuries, including a leg injury, injury to ribs and a cut arm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A group of 30 cyclists with the Capital Cyclist Club were riding east when a black Infiniti crossed the center line and hit several cyclists before crossing back into their own lane, then landing in a ditch approximately one-half mile away from the initial crash scene, according to the Holly Springs Fire Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the cyclists told WRAL that they frequently ride along the route together.<\/p>\n

Some people were treated at the scene, and others were transported to the hospital with traumatic injuries.\u00a0Of the 20 people injured, seven have serious injuries and 13 have minor injuries, according to Holly Springs Fire Chief LeRoy Smith.<\/p>\n

A Wake County EMS bus was brought in to transport the injured to local hospitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/Wake Emergency bus (\u00a9 WRAL)<\/p>\n

Broadcastify radio traffic paints grim picture of the scene when first responders arrived:<\/p>\n

“A vehicle just hit 15 to 20 pedestrians. Vehicle was a small black Infiniti … the driver is currently out, stumbling around at this time. It’s gonna be an older white male with white hair, goatee wearing a blue shirt. The vehicle is currently in a ditch. There are several injuries and possibly one code 7. SHP has been notified and EMS is on the way as well.”<\/p>\n

Bob Schroder, who lives near the crash scene, said he is a former cyclist himself.<\/p>\n

“It’s sad that this happens,” he said. “I have sympathy for all the people who got hurt, and I hope the remaining survivors stay that way and that they live through this.”<\/p>\n

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol is responding to the crash.<\/p>\n

Optimist Farm Road has since reopened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/Bikes lined up after the crash (\u00a9 WRAL)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Apex driver is facing more than a dozen felony charges and a $1 million bond following a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,243148,15441,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-909639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-apex","tag-crash","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}