Adults charged with providing alcohol before fatal crash

North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement agents charged Mary McCoy, 46, of 5705 Waycross Street in Raleigh, and Andrew Ryan Buhrmeister, 23, of 708 Guadeloupe Court in Holly Springs, with providing the alcohol at a party hosted by McCoy’s 18-year-old daughter.

A 20-year-old man who attended the party died and his passenger was critically injured when they crashed into a house on Tryon Road in Raleigh after leaving the party.

ALE Special Agent Mike McKeithan said Max Bratton, of 4812 Tannen Hill Trail in Holly Springs, was allegedly consuming alcoholic beverages during a party at the home of Chelsea Rae Smith, 18, at 2101 Versatile Road, Apt. 105 in Raleigh on Aug. 20.

He left the party with Ethan Herring, 19, of 5632 Turner Glen Drive in Raleigh, and was driving about 60 to 65 mph in a 45-mph zone on wet roads when his BMW M5M hit a fence, went airborne and smashed into a house at 1911 Tryon Road, troopers who responded to the wreck said.

Bratton died at the scene. Herring spent weeks in the hospital. He had a blood alcohol level of 0.22, authorities said.

"That is a drug, and that is destroying our youth," Herring's father, Glynn, said Monday. "So many parties, and so many this and that, and it is so accessible and it shouldn't be."

Herring said it is only by the grace of God that his son survived. "It has been terrible for our family, because we almost lost our youngest son."

Smith was charged with underage possession of alcohol, aiding and abetting an underage person in possessing malt beverages and purchasing liquor while under 21 years of age.

Glynn Herring declined to comment on the arrests because of possible litigation.