Highway Patrol Continues to Probe Fatal Hit-and-Run

Che Skaggs was at least 10 feet off the road when, authorities said, a car struck and killed him Saturday afternoon at 4503 Claibornes Road. The Highway Patrol said the car's driver, Scott Belling, 47, was drunk when his vehicle hit Skaggs.

Trooper Joseph Sharlow said Belling, 47, drove 5.5 miles to the Three Points Grill after Skaggs was hit, got a cheeseburger to go and left the restaurant. That's when Belling noticed his tire was flat and called 911 from his cell phone, Sharlow said.

"I came up here to get my hamburgers and what not, and there's kids that do their skating and what not in the road, and I think I may have hit one," Belling said in the call to 911. "I'm not sure. I just – a kid kind of came in, and I've got a flat right front tire that tells me something happened with that kid."

Three Points Grill assistant manager Amelia Allen told WRAL on Monday that her waitresses told her about Belling.

“He called 911 and said he had hit a guy down the road," Allen said as she recalled what waitresses told her. "He came in and ordered a cheeseburger and he left saying he was going back to the scene of the accident.”

Sharlow said Belling did not call 911 from inside the restaurant and that it did not appear that he spoke to anyone about the incident.

Belling was charged Saturday with driving while impaired and felony hit-and-run. His was later charged with felony death-by-vehicle. He was being held in the Orange County Jail under a $70,000 bond.