A 92-year-old woman died after a wrong-way driver slammed head-on into her Kia Sorento on Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte, and five days after the crash, no charges had been announced. Dorthea Leak was pronounced dead at the hospital on October 12, a day after the crash, according to police.
The crash happened around 4:30 p.m. on October 11 in the 2700 block of Beatties Ford Road, when a Ram pickup truck driven by 66-year-old Stanley Burrison struck Leak's Kia Sorento head-on, as reported by WSOC-TV. Preliminary findings indicate Burrison was driving at a high rate of speed on the wrong side of the roadway when the collision occurred. A Tesla was also struck during the crash sequence, bringing the total number of vehicles involved to three.
MEDIC transported six people to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, while Charlotte Fire also responded to assist victims at the scene. Officers found Burrison's pickup resting on its side, with the Kia Sorento showing heavy front-end damage. Police said they suspect both speed and impairment as factors in Burrison's driving, though authorities have announced no charges against him as the investigation continues.
Major Crash Unit Leads Investigation With Case Number Now Public
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's Major Crash Investigation Unit is handling the probe, which is now tracked under Case Report No. 20261011-1630-04 and led by Detective Sessoms, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. CMPD released those details after notifying Leak's next of kin, and detectives are asking anyone with information to call police at 704-432-2169 or reach out to Charlotte Crime Stoppers. Under CMPD policy, sworn detectives from the Major Crash Investigation Unit — rather than the department's Civilian Crash Investigation Unit, which handles minor property-damage accidents — are required to take over scenes involving fatalities or suspected criminal impairment.
The intersection where the crash occurred, near Beatties Ford Road and Sir Bailey Drive in West Charlotte, sits close to both Interstate 85 and Interstate 77, according to reporting from Powers Law Firm. Police suspect speed and impairment were factors in the crash.
Another Deadly Crash Struck the Same Road Weeks Earlier
A separate fatal wreck occurred elsewhere on Beatties Ford Road in recent weeks. On September 27, a crash in the 6600 block of Beatties Ford Road killed 38-year-old passenger Darnell Campbell Jr. and injured four others when a driver veered into a utility pole, according to WSOC-TV. In that case, the 23-year-old driver was charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle. Hoodline covered the earlier crash in detail at the time.
Beatties Ford Road is officially designated as part of Charlotte's High Injury Network, a set of corridors that make up just 13% of the city's streets but account for roughly 80% of all fatal and serious injury traffic collisions citywide, according to city traffic-safety data. The designation reflects crash data. Severe crashes remain clustered along these high-risk corridors.
Wrong-Way Crashes Tied to Impairment Across the State
Wrong-way driving has become a growing concern across North Carolina.
Local courts have handled similar cases before. In March, an East Charlotte driver involved in a January 2025 fatal wrong-way collision on W.T. Harris Boulevard pleaded guilty to felony death by vehicle and was sentenced to 80 to 108 months in prison, as Hoodline reported at the time. The victim in that case was a 40-year-old woman.
For now, the CMPD investigation into Leak's death remains open, with no charges filed against Burrison as detectives await further findings. Investigators continue to ask anyone who witnessed the crash or has relevant information to come forward.
