A wrong-way crash on I-26 near Asheville has left a Leicester man dead and a Taylors driver facing felony charges, after troopers say a Tesla crossed into oncoming traffic and slammed head-on into a Honda SUV before colliding with a Honda passenger car. Bradley Lanier is now being held on a $5 million bond at the Buncombe County Detention Center, accused of driving while impaired in a collision that also sent four other people to the hospital.
According to Fox Carolina, the Tesla entered I-26 West in the eastbound lanes at Exit 37, striking a Honda SUV head-on before colliding with a Honda passenger car. Lanier is facing charges of driving while impaired, felony death by vehicle, felony serious injury and reckless driving, the station reports.
The driver and two passengers riding in the Honda passenger car were taken to Mission Hospital with serious injuries, per the same account. One of those passengers later died at the hospital and was identified as Jimmy Lee Brooks of Leicester. The driver of the Honda SUV was also taken to Mission Hospital but suffered only minor injuries and was later released.
Interstate Shut Down for Hours During Investigation
The crash forced the closure of I-26 for approximately two hours as troopers worked the scene, the report notes. Separately, 828newsnow.com reported that eastbound I-26 was shut down near Exit 37 in Buncombe County on Thursday afternoon following the multi-vehicle wreck, with the North Carolina Department of Transportation logging the closure at 2:31 p.m. that day.
Emergency radio traffic summarized by CrimeRadar and cited by 828newsnow.com indicated that three vehicles were involved in the crash near mile marker 36.3, close to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Multiple fire and emergency medical crews responded to the scene, according to that outlet.
Another Wrong-Way Fatal Crash on I-26
A wrong-way driver was involved in another fatal crash on I-26 in January 2025. WLOS reported that a driver heading west in the eastbound lanes near Weaverville collided head-on with another vehicle at 3:27 p.m., killing the wrong-way driver while the other motorist was hospitalized. Highway patrol said at the time that the investigation into why that driver was traveling the wrong way remained ongoing.
Wrong-way crashes remain statistically rare but disproportionately deadly across North Carolina. State data cited by WRAL show 59 wrong-way crashes and 23 fatalities recorded in 2023 alone, after the period from 2020 through 2022 saw 206 such crashes — described as one of the deadliest stretches on record. Alcohol was a factor in 47.9% of all wrong-way driving crashes statewide and in 53.3% of wrong-way-crash fatalities, according to the same data.
Felony Charges Carry Steep Legal Exposure
North Carolina's felony death by vehicle statute, outlined by the North Carolina General Assembly, applies to drivers engaged in impaired driving under the state's impaired-driving statute. That underlying offense, impaired driving, is defined under North Carolina General Statutes § 20-138.1 as driving any vehicle while impaired, according to the same legislative source.
Lanier remains held on the $5 million bond as the case moves forward. Fox Carolina's report does not include further detail on when Lanier is expected in court or how he intends to respond to the charges.
