Gaston,NC : Man accused of drinking and texting in fatal wreck on April, Saturday 14th 2018

Police say a man was impaired and texting at the time of a collision that killed a 58-year-old Gastonia man Saturday night.

Steven Lewis Ward died at the scene of the two-vehicle wreck at 10:04 p.m. Saturday on Robinwood Road and Seth Court, just west of the Harris Teeter supermarket and directly in front of the Hawks Nest STEAM Academy.

Clarence Gilbert Bailey III, 20, of Gastonia, faces a multitude of charges including impaired driving, felony hit and run, texting while driving and felony death by motor vehicle. He was booked into Gaston County Jail at 4:27 a.m. Sunday under a $270,000 bond. He refused a breath test to determine the amount of alcohol in his system so magistrates ordered that a blood sample be taken from him.

Bailey was driving a pickup truck when he collided with a four-door sedan head-on being driven west by Ward, according to Gastonia Police Sgt. J.A. Hallman. Neither vehicle had a passenger, according to police. Ward was pronounced dead at the scene.

The impact knocked the truck Bailey was driving on its side. Ward’s vechicle was crushed.

Source :
Man accused of drinking and texting in fatal wreck