Former Raleigh Officer Who Lost Leg Confronts Hit-and-Run Driver at Sentencing

Tracy Turner stood before Judge Tiffany Powers on Monday and told the court exactly what it felt like when Brandon Scot Bennett's truck struck her motorcycle on Kerr Avenue and left her there.

"I found myself on my back. I tried to move, but I could not move. My life stood still, and everything slowed down," Turner said.

Bennett, 37, was convicted in 2023 of hitting Turner with his truck while she was riding her motorcycle on Kerr Avenue. Prosecutors say he fled the scene and was impaired at the time. The crash cost Turner part of her leg.

Judge Powers sentenced Bennett to three years' credit for time served, 12 weeks of intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment, and a remaining restitution payment of $75,000 to Turner, to be paid while he is on probation. Bennett appeared in court wearing a jumpsuit and handcuffs.

The courtroom was filled with Turner's family and friends, who gathered in support as she addressed the judge. Turner had met with the district attorney numerous times in the years since the crash, pushing for harsher punishment given the severity of what she endured physically, emotionally, and financially. She said she still believes more could have been done, but expressed pride in how hard she fought for herself.

Even so, Turner's words to the court reached beyond accountability. "I needed to allow myself to be vulnerable in that moment and, you know, my hope is that he doesn't relapse, that this treatment works for him. So, my prayer for him is that he takes advantage of this big opportunity he's been given today," she said.

Turner said she wants the crash, and everything that followed, to stand as an advocacy for change. Monday's sentencing, three years after the collision on Kerr Avenue, marked the end of the legal process but not the end of that effort.