North Carolina 5-year-old dead after allegedly impaired driver strikes golf cart

Two people are dead and four others are injured after a car hit a golf cart full of people late Monday night in North Carolina.

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol says that Austin Ray Harmon, 23, was driving a 2009 Honda Accord when he allegedly hit the golf cart near Statesville at 9:40 p.m., which had five people in it, according to WBTV.

Michael Shane Marlowe, 39, and Bentley Marlowe, 5, were killed in the crash, according to the report.

Harmon was charged with driving while impaired, three counts of felony serious injury by vehicle, and two counts of felony death by vehicle.

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North Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper Jeffrey Swagger said that multiple people were transported to the hospital.

“Last night around 9:40 p.m., the Highway Patrol and other first responders were called to this area for a motor vehicle crash involving a passenger car and a golf cart,” Swagger said. “Troopers arrived to find multiple injured; unfortunately two of those passengers on the golf cart were deceased and there were multiple transported to the hospital.”

Troopers said that the car, which was driving in the opposite direction, crossed the center line and hit the cart.

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Officials said that the other passengers who were injured are ages 2, 13, 16, and 26, according to the report. They were transported to local hospitals by helicopter.

Harmon’s bond was set at $250,000.

“Impaired driving is dangerous for not only the driver but also everyone else on the highway, and then golf carts are a popular past time for folks to get out and enjoy their neighborhoods and community, but they can be dangerous when golf carts and cars occupy the same space, that can be dangerous for the occupants of the golf carts for sure,” Swagger said.

A candlelight vigil was held on Tuesday night for the victims at First Presbyterian Church.

A friend of the family, Sharon Chambers, said that the community is devastated after the crash.

“You can feel the heaviness in the community around pretty much everybody,” Chambers said. “It’s just an overwhelming heaviness of sorrow for them and their family.”