Hit-and-run suspect turns self in

One man is in the hospital and another behind bars after a hit and run Thursday morning. Tyler Williams, 22, was seriously injured in the early morning accident. The driver did not stop. Police were searching for the person responsible most of the day, until Christopher Allen Wayne Stephenson turned himself in.

Click HERE as police talk about hit and run

Click HERE as Ms. Holt talks about boyfriend being hit

Stephenson, 26, of 2500 Skyland Dr., Gastonia, is charged with felony hit and run with injury. Tyler Williams, 22, was walking on Hudson Boulevard at 5 a.m. with his girlfriend, Litrease Holt. They started across the street to go to their home on Taylor Drive, Gastonia Police Officer J.R. Smith said.

Holt made it to the median. Williams was following behind her when he was struck by a vehicle believed to be a 2010 to 2012 dark gray Kia Sorrento, police said. “I walked and stepped up on the median and as I did I heard a huge cracking sound,” Holt said through tears. “I turned around and he was on the hood of the car. He flew off onto the windshield then on top and fell off onto the pavement face first.”

Holt screamed and ran to her boyfriend’s side. Williams was unresponsive. “I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing,” she said. Holt tried to chase the SUV and write down the tag number, but it was going too fast, she said.

The driver, who police now say was Stephenson, never stopped. Williams suffered serious injuries, but police expect him to live, Smith said. He was awake, alert and talking to doctors this morning for a short time, Holt said. She doesn’t understand why the driver who hit her boyfriend refused to stop.

“The person that they hit was a person, a human being, not a dog, not a raccoon, but a human being with family and people who love and care about him,” she said. “Knowing who did it will not make it go away, but it will soothe our wounds.”

Police say Stephenson knew he hit a man. “There’s no way (he) could have not known,” Smith said. Police found part of a front bumper and side mirror at the scene. Williams, a student at UNCCharlotte, is hoping to graduate after this semester. Holt describes him as a vibrant, smart and compassionate.

She says the experience will only make him stronger. “If it has any effects, it’ll only be positive effects,” she said. “I think it might make him have more trust in a higher power.”

Online Editor Kevin Ellis contributed to this report. You can reach reporter Lauren Baheri at 704-869-1842 or Twitter.com/lbaheri.