A 1-year-old twin is dead and two other children were hurt after their mother crashed a Honda Accord on an Interstate 40 ramp in Greensboro early Sunday morning, allegedly while impaired and with an open container of alcohol in the vehicle. Police say 26-year-old Jamiah Smith, a mother of three from Locust, was driving south on Freeman Mill Road toward I-40 West at around 4 a.m. when she failed to negotiate the ramp's curve, sending the car off the road and into a rollover.
According to an official news release from the City of Greensboro, police, fire, and Guilford County EMS crews responded to find the vehicle overturned and resting on the ramp leading from US 220 North to I-40 West. Smith and her three children — a 9-year-old and 1-year-old twins — were all taken by ambulance to a local hospital, as reported by the Charlotte Observer. One of the twins died at the hospital on Monday, per police, while the 9-year-old and the surviving twin were treated and released the day of the crash.
Injuries and Charges Mount in Rollover Case
Court documents cited by the Observer state that the surviving twin suffered shoulder and abdomen injuries, while the twin who died had suffered head trauma. The paper's report, citing police, also notes that the child who died was critically injured because the child was not properly secured in a child restraint seat. Greensboro is roughly a 90-mile drive northeast from uptown Charlotte, according to the same account.
Police have charged Smith with felony death by vehicle, two counts of felony serious injury by vehicle, and three counts of misdemeanor child abuse. She also faces two counts of a child restraint violation, along with driving while impaired, failure to maintain lane control, and possession of an open container of alcohol — the latter charge stemming from police allegations that Smith was driving with an open container of alcohol in the car.
What North Carolina Law Says About the Charges
Under N.C.G.S. § 20-141.4(a1), felony death by vehicle applies when a driver unintentionally causes a fatality as a direct result of impaired driving, and it is classified as a Class D felony carrying a maximum sentence of up to 204 months in state prison, according to Powers Law Firm PA. The two felony serious injury by vehicle counts fall under N.C.G.S. § 20-141.4(a3), a Class F felony that can carry up to 59 months per count depending on the defendant's prior record, per the same statute.
The misdemeanor child abuse charges are filed under N.C.G.S. § 14-318.2, which Kurtz & Blum PLLC notes is a Class A1 misdemeanor — the highest misdemeanor class in North Carolina — allowing up to 150 days of active incarceration for creating or allowing a substantial risk of physical injury to a minor. Separately, N.C.G.S. § 20-137.1 requires every passenger under eight years old and weighing under 80 pounds to be secured in a weight-appropriate child restraint system, with violations carrying license points and fines. The Greensboro Police Department's Crash Reconstruction Unit is leading the ongoing investigation and is asking anyone with information to submit anonymous tips through Greensboro/Guilford Crime Stoppers or the P3tips mobile app, according to the city's release.
A Recurring Pattern on North Carolina Roads
This is not the first time this summer that Hoodline has covered a Greensboro mom facing charges after a fatal single-vehicle rollover involving her children; in June, a 31-year-old mother was charged after her 3-year-old died and a 5-year-old was hurt in a crash on I-73 North. The North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force's May 2026 annual report highlighted motor vehicle crashes as a leading cause of child deaths statewide and recommended strengthening car seat laws, noting that House Bill 368 stalled in the state Senate after passing the House in 2025, according to the task force's report obtained through the North Carolina General Assembly.
Impaired driving remains a persistent factor in the state's traffic toll. Alcohol-impaired crashes killed 361 people and injured 7,227 others across North Carolina in 2024, according to Division of Motor Vehicles data published by NC Vision Zero. Statewide traffic fatalities reached 1,732 in 2024, a 2.7% increase from 1,686 deaths the year before, per the DMV's Traffic Crash Facts report cited by Paynter Law. Smith's case remains under investigation, and the charges reflect police allegations rather than a proven determination of guilt.
