Troopers say drugs and alcohol were not a factor in crash that killed 4 Johnston teens
State troopers did not suspect drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash that killed four teens on Interstate 95 in Johnston County last week, according to a report made public over the weekend.
The State Highway Patrol has said that a trooper clocked Alan Lee Lockamy going 100 mph on I-95 just before he lost control at the Brogden Road exit in Smithfield. Troopers estimate that the Kia Soul was still going 100 mph when it left the road and hit a tree at 2:39 a.m. on Jan. 22, according to the crash report.
The speed limit on that stretch of I-95 is 65 mph.
The report says Lockamy “operated the vehicle in a careless and reckless manner” but that troopers did not suspect he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They did not test him.
Lockamy, 17, and his three passengers — Christopher Wayne Jackson Jr., Freddy Seras and Semaj Lejai Williams — were killed. All four were current or former students at Smithfield-Selma High School. Jackson and Seras were 17, and Williams was 16.
Lockamy was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, but the other three boys were not, according to the crash report. The two sitting in the back seat, Williams and Jackson, were thrown from the car, while Lockamy and Seras were trapped in the front seat, according to the report.
Front and side air bags were deployed when troopers came upon the car, according to the report.
It’s not clear if Lockamy saw the trooper he passed
The trooper who clocked Lockamy going 100 mph was parked when the Kia drove by and was still attempting to catch up to the car when it crashed, according to State Highway Patrol spokesman Chris Knox.
Knox said Lockamy did not significantly speed up or slow down or change how he was driving in a way that indicated he had seen the trooper.
“A pursuit had not been initiated,” Knox wrote in an email. “And unfortunately we might never learn if the driver had ever observed the trooper or if he planned to stop/flee when given the opportunity.”
Speed is a factor in a disproportionately high number of fatal crashes involving teens. From 2017 through 2022, speeding was found to be a contributing factor in about 43% of teen fatalities in North Carolina, compared to 24% of fatal crashes overall, according to data compiled by the Division of Motor Vehicles.
Meanwhile, alcohol was a factor in 15.8% of teen highway deaths, lower than the rate of 25.1% for all age groups.
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