DOT worker charged in wreck that killed Tarboro officer
A state Department of Transportation truck driver was charged Thursday in connection with a Tuesday morning wreck that killed an off-duty Tarboro police officer, according to the State Highway Patrol.
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William Allen Harrell II, 29, of Macclesfield, was charged with driving left of center and misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and was released under a $2,500 unsecured bond.
Officer Charles Bryce Johnson, 46, was westbound on N.C. Highway 111 near Tarboro shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday when an eastbound DOT excavator truck crossed the center line and collided head-on with Johnson's Honda Odyssey near Sara Lee Road, authorities said.
Johnson, a 24-year veteran of the Tarboro Police Department, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Harrell II was shaken but wasn't injured, DOT officials said. He had driven out of a nearby DOT maintenance yard shortly before the wreck.
Visitation for Johnson will be from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at Edgecombe Community College's Keihin Auditorium. The funeral service will begin at 3 p.m., with burial immediately following at Edgecombe Memorial Park.
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