Legally blind driver charged with hitting homeless woman in Fayetteville

A legally blind driver hit a pedestrian Wednesday on Grove Street and then drove away, according to arrest documents in the Cumberland County Magistrate's Office.

Posted 3:22 a.m. Apr 19, 2018 — Updated 3:22 a.m. Apr 19, 2018

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A legally blind driver hit a pedestrian Wednesday on Grove Street and then drove away, according to arrest documents in the Cumberland County Magistrate’s Office.

The Fayetteville Observer reports James Carlton Mann, 27, of the 1700 block of Gibson Street, is charged with felony hit and run causing serious injury and misdemeanor no operator’s license. Mann was at the intersection of Grove and B streets, documents said, when his car struck Dameshia Laqunda Dyson, who is homeless.

Several witnesses told Fayetteville police officers that the driver kept going.

Dyson was taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center to be treated for head trauma and unknown internal injuries, documents said. An update on her condition was not available.

Officers located the vehicle near Mann’s home about three miles from where the pedestrian was struck. The passenger side of the windshield was shattered, documents said.

He told the officers he drove away because he doesn’t have a driver’s license and he was scared, according to the documents.

Bail was set at $5,000.

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