North Carolina Men Run Off Road

[themaninblack]

I just watched this segment and wonder if there have been any arrests in this case.
some people are just so evil!

[nohwheregirl]

Last I heard, there weren't any. One of the survivors posted here a couple years ago to say he was doing well and there was no progress on the case. Also, someone posted here a long time ago saying they had a lead in the case and wanted to contact law enforcement. I don't think that went anywhere.

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by MissKitka731

Can you give a quick recap? I don't remember this case.

A car full of black males appeared to be run off the road on purpose. The driver of the unknown car was described as sort of scuzzy and he seemed to be happy with himself after the accident as he fled so the police think it was racially motivated. One man in the targeted car died and I believe at least one of the others was seriously injured.

[wiseguy182]

I was thinking this was Virginia and not North Carolina?

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

I was thinking this was Virginia and not North Carolina?

Pretty sure it was NC.

[joshypiano]

A while back I was doing research into this case and was stumbling as to where it actually took place. I wrote the local authorities and here is what I got back:

This incident was not investigated by Greensboro Police Department. We cannot remember the exact location but believe it was between the cities of Durham and Burlington North Carolina.
Lois G Courmon
Greensboro Police Department

[unsolvedmysteriesfan]

Christmas season, Dec 23, 1988, occurred "near" Greensboro, North Carolina but not Greensboro. Suburban neighborhood. Ken Dungee, Lavern Allen III, Darius Bannerman

[unsolvedmysteriesfan]

AMPUTEE MOVES ON WITH HIS LIFE
Greensboro News & Record - December 23, 1993

Five years ago today, a fatal accident changed the course of a Greensboro teenager's life.

Levern Allen leads a busy life these days.

Between 20 hours of work each week at News and Novels Market Street bookstore and a full course load at Guilford Technical Community College, Allen interns at a local recording studio.

"I'm never here besides to sleep," the 22-year-old Smith High School graduate said Wednesday from the living room of his parents' Greensboro home.

Five years ago, the 6-foot-3-inch tall, 190-pound man didn't expect to still be living at home at age 22. By this time, he expected to be a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, well on his way to becoming an airline pilot, a dream he had held since the ninth grade.

But five years ago today, Allen's dream was shattered and his life was forever changed. On his way to Raleigh with three friends to Christmas shop at Crabtree Valley Mall, the car Allen was driving was rammed from behind. Traveling at speeds up to 60 mph, the Plymouth Duster Allen had borrowed from his parents careened down the embankment next to Interstate 40 near Durham. The car overturned, pinning Allen and 19-year-old Kenny Dungee inside.

Dungee was killed. Doctors amputated Allen's right leg, which was severed nearly to the bone during the crash. For three days after the accident, physicians furiously worked on the 17-year-old, who underwent three operations and was in critical condition at N.C. Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill.

He moved out of the hospital's intensive care unit on Christmas Day - 1988.

The driver of the blue Monte Carlo, who witnesses said intentionally forced Allen's car off the road, never was caught. It was a white man who Allen said tailgated him before ramming into him several times on busy I-40 on a clear Dec. 23 afternoon in 1988. Witnesses told investigators the man got out of his car after the crash and looked down the hill at Allen's wrecked automobile before driving away. Although the accident was featured on the nationally televised show "Unsolved Mysteries " in 1989, a suspect never was identified.

At the time, investigators said the accident appeared to be racially motivated. The man was white and the four teens were black. Today, Allen believes the investigators did little to find a suspect; they never even had a composite picture drawn from the teenagers' descriptions, he said. Efforts were unsuccessful Wednesday to reach the Highway Patrol investigators who worked the case.

"Yeah, I'm angry," Allen said Wednesday as he vividly recalled the details of the accident. "I'm angry because I wanted them to find him."

Allen spent a month after the accident in the Chapel Hill hospital. Doctors fitted him with an artificial leg, and he left the hospital on crutches in January. By April 1989, he was walking unassisted.

"I went to the prom and I didn't use a cane," he remembers.

He could walk unassisted and his mind was clear and sharp. For those things, Allen says he is grateful. But the accident still took away so much, he said, and it has taken awhile - and is still taking time - for him to adjust.

"I was so geared to go into the military," he said. "I was like an athlete ... that never thought about doing much besides playing ball.

"It was like, 'What do I do now?' "

The amputation meant a lot of physical changes for the physically active teenager. For the previous three summers he had lifeguarded at the Warnersville Recreational Center Pool. He helped out with the basketball. He hiked and swam. And he had been spending a lot of time getting in shape for the Air Force Academy.

"I wanted to be an airline pilot, and they said they took most people from military schools," Allen said. "I said that's the way to go."

He joined the Smith High School ROTC program. He made good grades. His upper body strength was improving.

The military demanded that he run fast, be strong. Before the accident, he was getting there, he said.

But after the accident, his physical capabilities became limited and military school was out of the question.

In August 1989, he entered Virginia Tech as a freshman. It was there that he first faced real obstacles because of the artificial limb. The constant walking from the dormitory to classes - which Allen said were across campus from each other - caused his prosthesis to rub against the top of his right leg, where it was attached.

"For the first few weeks I had blisters on my leg from walking," he said. "I had one instructor get on me for coming to class late. He didn't know I had an artificial leg."

One night that first semester, Allen was jolted awake by the fire alarm. Other students jumped from their beds and quickly filed out of the residence hall. Forgoing the time it would take to attach his leg, Allen left the dorm without it.

"I had to go down five flights of stairs on crutches," he said.

One year later, Allen left Virginia Tech. The physical strain - coupled with the mental strain of adjusting to college - was just too much for him, he says.

Living at home made things easier, but didn't eliminate the problems, he said.

For example, Allen has learned that it's difficult to walk on any surface that isn't clean and level. Gravel gives him trouble. And on his first trip to the beach after the amputation he found out he can't walk on soft sand.

Simple things pose problems, like going to Four Seasons Town Centre - where he's learned the floors are uneven - and visiting friends after dark.

"I try to avoid walking through people's yards at night," he said. "Everything looks level."

The summer heat only increases the problems. The artificial leg, which is attached to Allen's leg by suction, tends to loosen and start to fall off when he sweats. So he often has to stop to adjust it.

"I went to ... Atlanta in the summertime and I had to stop three times crossing the street," he said. "I heard someone say, 'what's wrong with him?' "

Allen still swims - he takes his artificial leg off - and he can drive a car, as long as it has an automatic transmission.

When he talks about the leg, he likes to talk about the things he still can do.

For the past two terms, Allen has maintained a solid B average and he hopes to complete an associate degree in electronics next summer. Then he wants to continue on to a four-year college to earn a degree in electrical engineering.

Someday, he hopes to design recording studios like the one he works in now.

Sometimes he sees Kenneth Newkirk and Darius Bannerman , the two other friends who survived the fatal crash. Both men now attend nearby colleges.

Occasionally, Allen says, he'll run into Kenny Dungee's brothers and sisters. This time of year, the memories of the accident are clear in his mind. But then again, he said, there are few days he isn't forced to remember that cold December day five years ago.

"I think about it a lot more often than people would think," he said. "There are a lot of things people take for granted."
Caption: COLOR PHOTO: Gerry Broome / News & Record Levern Allen reflects on an automobile accident five years ago that changed his life.

[unsolvedmysteriesfan]

'UNSOLVED MYSTERIES' GENERATES 300 CALLS
Greensboro News & Record - February 2, 1990
Authorities received nearly 300 calls after the airing of an ``Unsolved Mysteries'' segment involving a Durham hit-and-run accident that killed one Greensboro Smith High School student and maimed another.

``Some of them sounded really good to me,'' said David Rajter, administrator for ``Unsolved Mysteries'' Telecenter in Burbank, Calif. ``We've had 270 calls so far.''

The N.C. Highway Patrol, which investigated the incident in which four black teenagers were run off Interstate 40 by an unknown white man Dec. 23, 1988, reported about 30 calls to its office.

``I'm optimistic,'' said Sgt. R.W. Shepherd. ``But no call so far had an overbearing weight of evidence.''

The accident killed Kenneth Dungee, caused Levern Allen III to lose a leg and injured Kenneth Newkirk and Darius Bannerman.

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

this is one of those segments that makes one very ill.

[themaninblack]

dont ya just wanna lay some smackdown on that jabroni, give him some SLAPS to the face cuz he's not a man really just a punk!

[joshypiano]

Originally Posted by themaninblack

dont ya just wanna lay some smackdown on that jabroni, give him some SLAPS to the face cuz he's not a man really just a punk!

That's alot of sly under the table references to wrestling don't ya think?

[Necco]

It was still unsolved as of 2005, when Darius himself stopped by after egoogling (googling one's own name).

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/...ghlight=darius

[Rahkiej123]

I went to highschool with these guys. They were very good people. Just all around good! I never watched the unsolved mystery until today. 20 years later. I still miss Kenny!

Kenny was the first guy to tell me how beautiful my eyes were.LOL He was in the band with my sister and a very talented artist.
I remeber a chess set he made. It was soooooooooooooooo beautiful.

Wow it's sad how these guys ALL with promising futures had to endure such pain and hardships due to some ignorant fool.

Every year around Christmas I think about these guys! I just wrote on my facebook page the other day about how much I missed Kenny.

[kadrmas15]

Yeah, it is obvious race was the motive here. For whatever reason this redneck punk decided to take his rage out on a group of young men. He was a very ugly guy so I am surprised he was never caught. I am sure the statute of limitations has long since expired on this case. However since he intentionally rammed the car and used it as a weapon, I am wondering if it would be possible to charge him with murder if the guy were found? I think he could be charged with 2nd degree murder as there is no statute of limitations on murder. The North Carolina Highway Patrol I believe investigated this case, not the local police departments.