7 more people, including 2 UNC football players, charged in fatal Chapel Hill crash

Richard Stradling, Dave Hendrickson
·4 min read

Seven additional people, including employees from at least one Chapel Hill tavern and two members of the UNC-Chapel Hill football team, have been charged in connection to a fatal crash in January that killed a UNC-Chapel Hill student and left two others injured.

Police have said that alcohol was a factor in the crash and all of the additional charges announced Friday night are related to underage drinking.

The UNC-Chapel Hill student who was driving the car involved in the crash near Meadowmont in the early morning hours of Sunday, Jan. 21, was arrested and charged earlier this week. She faces a dozen criminal charges, including driving while impaired, felony death by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter.

A third student and possible member of the UNC football team has also been charged, police announced Wednesday.

Flemeeja Beatrice Brewer, 20, was driving east on N.C. 54 near East Barbee Chapel Road when she lost control and drove into a wooded area, according to police. They said Brewer was speeding and under the influence of alcohol when the crash took place about 2:23 a.m.

A passenger, Mary Elizabeth Rotunda, 20, was killed. Brewer and another passenger, 21-year-old Brianna Tiera Pinson, were treated for injuries that were not life threatening, police said.

All three women were from Greensboro. Pinson was not a UNC student, according to the university.

Investigators estimate Brewer was going more than 120 mph before she ran off the right side of the road and hit a street sign just past the Barbee Chapel Road intersection, according to a crash report. The car then hit several small trees and started to roll before coming to rest on its roof in the grass between N.C. 54 and Stancill Drive, the report says.

The speed limit on that stretch of N.C. 54 is 45 mph.

Brewer was not old enough to legally buy alcohol, and several of the charges she faces are related to drinking and driving as an underage person, including using a fraudulent ID to buy alcohol. Pinson, who was old enough to buy alcohol, has been charged with helping someone under 21 consume alcohol.

Brewer was released after posting a $75,000 bond and is scheduled to make her first appearance in court on Feb. 19.

During their investigation, police decided to charge the driver of another vehicle. Zachary O’Brien Rice, 20, of Lynchburg, Virginia, was charged with speeding, consuming alcohol while underage and driving after drinking while underage.

Police spokesman Alex Carrasquillo declined to say how the two vehicles were related or how officers investigating the fatal crash decided to charge Rice. No other vehicles are mentioned in the crash report.

The university confirmed Rice and Brewer are students at UNC-Chapel Hill, as was Rotunda. The university would not confirm reports that Rice is a member of the football team. The team’s website lists an offensive lineman named Zach Rice who is also from Lynchburg. Rice’s birthday was Jan. 21, the day of the early-morning crash.

Malaki Hamrick and Travis Shaw, both 19, were among those charged Friday. Their names and birthdays align with football team records, but the school would not confirm that they are members.

Hamrick is charged with underage possession/consumption of alcohol. Shaw is facing charges of underage possession/consumption of alcohol and five counts of aiding/abetting underage possession/consumption of alcohol in connection with the crash. He was also charged on an outstanding order for arrest for failing to appear in Durham County for possession of marijuana, underage possession of alcoholic beverages and unauthorized possession.

The original charges were announced by the Chapel Hill police. Friday’s charges were announced by the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement division, which is continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the crash.

ALE said it had found that Brewer and Rotunda, the underage passengers of the car involved in the crash, had been served alcohol at Still Life, 159 E. Franklin St., and at Might as Well, 206 W. Franklin St.

Still Life employees Karissa Webb, 22, and Annelle McNair, 24, were charged with selling/giving alcohol to underage people.

The others charged Friday are:

  • Cameren Spencer, 20, was charged with underage possession/consumption of alcohol and two counts of giving malt beverages or unfortified wine to anyone less than 21 years old.

  • Caden Spender, 22, was charged with six counts of aiding/abetting underage possession/consumption of alcohol.

  • Maliyah Pellum, 19, was charged with underage possession/consumption of alcohol and aid/abet underage possession/consumption of alcohol.

ALE said it will file a report with the ABC Commission when it completes its investigation. The commission may then sanction Still Life and Might as Well with a fine, suspension, or revocation of their ABC permits.