Impaired Driver Charged After Two Women Hurt in Capital Boulevard Crash

A pickup truck T-boned a silver SUV at the intersection of Capital Boulevard and Highwoods Boulevard in Raleigh on Saturday evening, leaving two women hospitalized and their alleged attacker facing a felony charge.

According to the Raleigh Police Department, officers were called to the crash around 7:20 p.m. at the intersection of Capital Boulevard and Highwoods Boulevard. The SUV was attempting to turn onto Capital Boulevard when it was struck.

The two women in the silver SUV were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment; one suffered non-life-threatening injuries, while the other had life-threatening injuries. A law firm that tracked the case separately reported that the more seriously injured woman apparently sustained head trauma and broken bones.

The man driving the pickup was charged with several crimes including felony serious injury by vehicle, driving while impaired, and failure to reduce speed. He was taken into custody at the scene. Officers have a man in custody after the crash. The Raleigh Police Department had not publicly released his name as of this report; the Wake County Detention Center booking log and the Wake County District Attorney's office are the next steps for confirming the formal charges and any bond or arraignment date.

The crash punished an already busy Saturday-night stretch of Capital Boulevard. A North Carolina Department of Transportation alert confirmed that one northbound lane and three southbound lanes were closed because of the crash, snarling traffic through the corridor for hours.

Capital Boulevard near Highwoods Boulevard is a high-traffic commercial strip running through northeast Raleigh, with the intersection serving as a gateway to the Highwoods office park and surrounding retail areas. A prior crash in the same general corridor in 2018 also closed lanes near Highwoods Boulevard, underscoring the stretch's history of serious collisions.

The Raleigh Police Department's Traffic Crash Unit is continuing its investigation. Anyone with information about the March 21 crash is encouraged to contact RPD directly.