A 45-year-old Hickory man died early Friday after he was ejected from the rear cab of his disabled pickup truck when another vehicle slammed into it on the shoulder of westbound Interstate 40 near Statesville. Ernest Duncan Ames IV was pronounced dead at the scene, and the driver accused of hitting him, 28-year-old Kevin Guadalupe Quintana of Mount Airy, now faces a felony charge of death by motor vehicle along with a lengthy list of other counts.
North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers responded to the crash around 3:09 a.m. near the 160 mile marker in Iredell County, according to WHKY. Ames was seated inside the rear cab of his disabled 2002 Ram 1500, which was parked in the emergency lane, when Quintana's 2021 Ram 3500 struck it and threw him from the vehicle, per WCCB Charlotte.
Investigators determined Quintana was speeding at the time of the crash and was under the influence of alcohol, according to the same report. He was arrested on scene, and troopers say he failed to maintain lane control before striking Ames's parked truck.
A Long List of Charges and a Steep Bond
Beyond the felony death by motor vehicle charge, Quintana was also charged with felony serious injury by vehicle, driving while impaired, reckless driving with wanton disregard, driving while license revoked, and failure to maintain lane control, the station's report notes. He was booked into the Iredell County Detention Center after a magistrate at the Iredell County Magistrate's Office set his bond at $750,000 secured.
Under North Carolina General Statute § 20-141.4, felony death by motor vehicle is classified as a Class D felony punishable by up to 160 months in state prison, according to Garrett, Walker, Aycoth & Olson. It remains unclear whether Quintana's driving record includes prior offenses or what led to the earlier revocation of his license, and formal toxicology results confirming his blood-alcohol level had not been released as of this report.
Shoulder Stops Remain a Persistent Danger
North Carolina's Move Over Law under G.S. § 20-157 requires drivers on multi-lane highways to shift a lane or slow down when approaching vehicles stopped on the shoulder, according to Halifax EMC. Whether shoulder visibility or hazard lighting played any role in the pre-dawn collision has not been detailed by investigators.
The crash adds to a troubling pattern of fatal collisions involving stopped vehicles on Iredell County interstates. Hoodline previously reported on a deadly I-77 crash near Statesville in October 2025, in which a semi-truck struck a stopped SUV, killing a passenger and three dogs.
County-level data underscores the risk. Iredell County recorded 28 traffic crash fatalities in 2024, up from 23 the year before, according to Connect NCDOT. Statewide, alcohol-impaired driving crashes killed 361 people and injured 7,227 more in 2024, per NC Vision Zero, while speeding was a contributing factor in 21.4 percent of all crash fatalities across the state that year, the NCDOT data shows.
North Carolina State Highway Patrol continues to investigate the crash. No court date for Quintana had been publicly scheduled as of this report.
