State v. King

• Decision Date: 31 May 1941
• Docket Number: 723.
• Citation: 14 S.E.2d 803,219 N.C. 667
• Parties: STATE v. KING.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

14 S.E.2d 803

219 N.C. 667

STATE v. KING.

No. 723.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

May 31, 1941

The bill of indictment on which defendant was tried and convicted is as follows: "The Jurors for the State upon their oath present: That M. A. King, late of the County of Granville, on the 26th day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and forty, with force and arms, at and in the County aforesaid, did unlawfully, willfully and feloniously fail to stop his motor vehicle, involved in an accident, at the scene of such accident, and give his name address, operator's or chauffeur's license number registration number of his vehicle and render assistance to Mrs. G. G. Ragland, the person injured in said accident against the form of the statute in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State. Murdock, Solicitor."

Mrs. G G. Ragland testified, in part, as follows:

"The accident occurred between King's place of business and Oxford, about 250 yards or something, from King's place of business. The accident occurred about 7:00 o'clock in the evening and it was dark. I was traveling (north) in the direction of Oxford. There were four others in the car with me. Mrs. Garland Ragland, Miss Helen Harris, Frances Ragland my daughter, and Dorothy Ragland, Mrs. Garland Ragland's daughter.

"The accident occurred just before the beginning of a curve. The highway is slightly down-grade in the direction I was traveling. I was driving at about 30 miles an hour on my right-hand side of the highway. The other car involved in the accident with my car was going (south) toward Durham. I was meeting the other car. As I approached the curve I saw the lights of an approaching car coming around the curve. I was unable at that time to tell on what part of the highway the approaching car was being driven. As it straightened out and focused its lights on me I noticed that it was being driven entirely on my side of the highway. I pulled out upon the shoulder and applied my brakes. Just then the car struck my car. I drove on to the shoulder as far as I could without going down an embankment. My left-hand front wheel and rear wheel were about two feet on the paved portion of the highway. When the collision occurred my car was practically at a standstill. It rolled about a foot more after the collision. The left-hand front fender and wheel and running-board of my car were struck. I am unable to say at what speed the car which struck my car was traveling.

"The other car kept going. The car was going very fast, but I would not say how fast. It was going more rapidly than my own car was going. I do not know who was driving the car that collided with my car. I do not know what kind of an automobile it was or what model, nor do I know the color of the car. I did not observe the other car in any way except that it struck my car. The collision knocked up the front left-hand fender of my car and tore it up and ripped up the running-board and knocked the hub cap off my front left wheel and burst a hole in the tire and bent the rim. I drove my car into Oxford after the collision, but was unable to make a left-hand turn for the reason that the fender was crushed down so near the wheel. I remained at the scene of the collision about 15 or 20 minutes, and the other car did not come hack. I was not injured, but Mrs. Garland Ragland sustained a bruised knee, being thrown from the back seat into the front of the car. My daughter's arm was bruised."

Mrs. G. G. Ragland (recalled) testified further: "(Upon being shown a piece of a hub cap) I have seen that before, I first saw it on the highway at the scene of the collision. It was opposite the rear end of my car, probably in the middle of the highway. It has the word 'Chevrolet' on it. It did not come off my automobile. I was driving a 1936 Chevrolet. (Upon being shown two other articles) I picked up the smaller piece, the ring. When I saw the other piece, Mr. Carter, the Highway Patrolman, had it. These three parts of an automobile, apparently automobile parts, did not come off the car I was driving."

W. B. Dixon testified, in part: "I saw the car that struck Mrs. Ragland's car just before the collision. My opinion is that the car which struck Mrs. Ragland was traveling at about 40 miles an hour. It did not stop after the collision and kept coming and appeared to pick up speed. The distance between my car and the Ragland car at the time of the collision was something like 100 feet or more. After this car struck Mrs. Ragland's car it seemed to be going toward me, turning further to its left. Just before it got to me, less than one-half the distance across the courtroom, it made a sharp turn back to the right, away from me. I heard the noise made by the collision of the two cars. I was about 100 feet away at the time. I know the defendant, M. A. King, just enough to know him when I see him. I reckon I have known him for twenty years. I do not know who was driving the car that struck Mrs. Ragland's car, nor do I know the make of automobile it was. Neither do I know the color of the car, except that it was a dark car. It was a closed car. I do not know that I have seen the car involved in the collision with Mrs. Ragland's car since the collision occurred. (Upon being shown hub caps and being asked if he had seen these hub caps before): They look like the same things that were picked up by Mrs. Ragland at the scene of the accident --two hub caps and a piece. The car that struck Mrs. Ragland's car did not stop. I stopped at the scene of the collision and stayed there for sometime."

W. T. Beasley testified, in part:

"I have been deputy sheriff for six years. On the night of October 26, 1940, I went out on the Durham road near the defendant, M. A. King's, place of business. I am familiar with the curve in the highway about 250 yards north (in the direction of Oxford) of King's place of business. I went to the curve with Mr. Otis Harrison, Mr. W. C. Carter, Mr. Al Jenkins and Mr. Ragland. The first time I went was between 8:00 and 8:30 o'clock. I went back somewhere around 10 or 11 o'clock. I discovered some marks in the highway. These marks were on the left-hand side of the highway (travelling in the direction of Durham) and in the middle of the curve. The curve is about 75 yards long. The marks were in the middle of the curve on the left-hand side of the highway coming toward Durham. They were about 18 inches or 2 feet to the left of the center of the highway (traveling toward Durham). The mark was a white mark on the pavement. I did not see any other marks. I followed this mark back up the road toward Durham to the defendant M. A. King's service station. There I found a wrecked car with the wheel down, a 1939 Chevrolet. The car was sitting on the right side of the defendant's service station. The mark that I had been following led continually and unbrokenly from where I began to follow it in the center of the curve to where I found the car. The mark led to the left front wheel of King's car. There were no marks beyond the left front wheel. The hub cap on the left front wheel was off, and the running-board was bent up on the left side. I did not see the left front tire. When I got there there was a new tire on the left front wheel. We found the owner of the car, the defendant M. A King. He was in his service station. I had a conversation with him about the car. There was no hub cap on the left front wheel when I saw the car. We called King out, talked to him about the car, about the wreck on it, and he said he wrecked the car over beyond Durham. He said that was not his car there that done that (evidently referring to collision). He said that he had a wreck over toward Durham around 6 o'clock the same night; said he ran into a bridge. He said Mr. Wilbur Whitfield had knocked his hub cap off about a week or two before. He said that he had not had a new hub cap since Mr. Whitfield knocked it off.

"Q. What was the condition of the defendant at the time you talked to him, Mr. Beasley? (Objection by defendant--overruled--exception, Exception No. 1) Ans. He was well under the influence of some intoxicant, Mr. King was. (Motion by defendant to strike--overruled--exception, Exception No. 2.) King said that he had had an accident; ran into a bridge about 6:00 o'clock that night over near Durham. He showed us what damage had been done. He showed us the running-board and hub cap and fender on the left side. The left side and fender were bent. He said there had been no hub cap on his left front wheel for a week or two. He said that Mr. Whitfield was going to get him one. He said that the collision with the bridge bent his running-board and fender.

"Q. Did he (King) say whether or not anyone else had been driving his car that night? Ans. He said that they had not.

"Q. Had not since 6:30 when he ran into the bridge? Ans. Yes, sir. (Motion to strike all of witness' testimony --denied--exception--Exception No. 3.) (Cross examination)

"Q. At what time did you do the tracking which you have described to the jury, on which of your visits to the scene of the collision? Ans. Somewhere around 9:30 and 10 o'clock was one time, then we went back again.

"Q. You stated first that you went out there somewhere between 8:00 and 8:30. You went back again about 10:00? Am I correct about that? Ans. Yes, sir.

"The Court: I sustain your objection to the question and answer as to the condition of the defendant. Do not consider that testimony, gentlemen, strike it from the record.

"*** I talked to Mr. King on the trip I made out to his place about 10 o'clock. It was then that Mr. King told me his hub cap had been knocked off by Wilbur Whitfield. He did not tell me that it had been knocked off by a man named...