Impaired driver charged after downtown Raleigh crash injures two pedestrians

Two pedestrians were hurt after debris from a red car struck them during a crash at Fayetteville Street and East Hargett Street in downtown Raleigh, a collision that police say led to DWI charges against Duane Andrew Doster.

Raleigh police responded around midnight Sunday and found the two people injured after the crash in one of the city’s busiest late-night corridors. Both pedestrians were taken to the hospital, and police said their injuries appeared to be minor. Even so, the scene underscored how quickly a collision downtown can turn dangerous for people walking through the entertainment district.

Doster was charged with driving while impaired, felony hit and run resulting in injuries, driving while license revoked, failure to yield to pedestrians and failure to reduce speed. He was being held in Wake County custody on a $10,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in court May 15.

The crash hit at the center of Downtown Raleigh, where Fayetteville Street functions as the core of the city’s downtown and sits among offices, restaurants, bars and public events. The City of Raleigh describes downtown as the city’s economic engine, a place where business, government and culture converge. That mix brings heavy foot traffic late into the night, especially around intersections like Fayetteville and Hargett, where drivers and pedestrians are often sharing tight space.

The incident also lands in the middle of Raleigh’s broader pedestrian-safety push. The city’s Vision Zero program points to North Carolina’s record 1,755 traffic deaths in 2021 and Raleigh’s own 50,000 total crashes in 2022, including 24 pedestrian fatalities. The North Carolina Department of Transportation says the state sees an average of 880 pedestrian-related crashes a year in or near intersections and about 47 pedestrian fatalities a year in or near intersections.

Raleigh officials have also tied downtown safety to infrastructure work. The city says it is updating the Fayetteville Street Streetscape Plan with a focus on pedestrian improvements, including better lighting, public art, site furnishings, utility redesign and other changes aimed at making the corridor safer and more walkable. City transportation planners have also pointed to Vision Zero, Safe Streets for All and Complete Streets as part of a strategy to eliminate fatal and serious-injury crashes.

Raleigh says it maintains 2,350 lane miles of city streets and rights of way, a reminder that enforcement, street design and driver behavior all shape safety across a large urban network. At Fayetteville and Hargett, those issues collided in a way that sent two pedestrians to the hospital and put another downtown driver in custody.