Nearly a decade after 25-year-old Corey Brown was killed in a hit-and-run in east Charlotte, the driver remains unidentified. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police are again asking the public for information. No one has been charged, and the family is still waiting for answers.
Brown was walking along Lawyers Road near Donnefield Drive in east Charlotte in January 2017 when a car struck him and the driver left the scene, according to WBTV. Police have reported that no one has come forward and the case remains unsolved, and investigators are once again asking anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers. The driver has never been identified.
Earlier accounts of the crash, reported by wbtv.com, place the collision around 6 p.m. on January 15, 2017, while a separate report from Queen City News put the time at 6:13 p.m. in the 7200 block of Lawyers Road and reported that Medic pronounced Brown dead at the scene. Police have said the driver took off after the collision, and that no surveillance footage or video has ever turned up showing the crash or the vehicle involved.
A Neighbor Who Knows the Danger Firsthand
Felix Torres, who lives along Lawyers Road, did not know Brown before his death. He told WBTV that he has nearly been hit by a car twice while getting around the community in his power chair. Torres said the risk extends to anyone using that stretch of road.
In the days after Brown's death, community members spoke out about dangerous driving in the area, and one person at the time said many people had been involved in hit-and-run fatalities over the previous year, as reported by WBTV. Brown's mother, Arthemia Haltiwanger, has continued to plead for answers in the years since. “I wish — if anyone knows anything — to please come forward so we can have closure with this whole situation with my son,” she said, as WBTV reported.
How To Submit A Tip
Anyone with information about the hit-and-run is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600. Callers may remain anonymous, and tipsters may be eligible for a cash reward if their information leads to an arrest. Community members can also submit tips through the P3 Tips app, per wbtv.com's earlier reporting. Charlotte Crime Stoppers says tipsters stay fully anonymous and will not have to appear in court, and tips that help solve a homicide may be eligible for up to $5,000.
Part of a Broader Pattern on Charlotte Streets
Brown's death came amid a documented rise in pedestrian deaths both locally and nationally. The Governors Highway Safety Association estimated that 5,997 pedestrians were killed nationwide in 2016, an 11 percent jump from the year before, according to the Charlotte Observer. North Carolina recorded an estimated 96 pedestrian deaths in just the first half of 2016, nearly 25 percent more than the same period in 2015, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police handled 20 pedestrian fatalities that year, more than double the nine deaths recorded in 2015.
The problem has persisted. Vehicles hit and killed roughly 120 pedestrians and bicyclists in Charlotte between 2018 and 2022, with about 85 more seriously injured and nearly 1,900 others struck but left with minor or no injuries, the Observer's later reporting found.
County pedestrian data and the duty to stop
According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation's 2024 Mecklenburg County crash profile, the county recorded 40 fatal pedestrian crashes in 2024, up from 26 in 2023. Those countywide figures do not describe Brown's crash. North Carolina law requires a driver who knows or reasonably should know that a crash involving their vehicle caused serious bodily injury or death to stop and remain at the scene, subject to the statute's stated exceptions, according to the North Carolina General Assembly.
