Raleigh police arrest suspect in fatal New Bern Avenue hit-and-run

A three-week search ended with an arrest in a fatal New Bern Avenue hit-and-run that killed 54-year-old Nicole Shawnette White near the Wake Inn area of east Raleigh.

Raleigh police identified Isaiah Deshon Gray, 25, as the driver they say struck White in the 3100 block of New Bern Avenue near Shanta Drive on May 15, around 9 p.m. Police said White was trying to cross outside a crosswalk when she was hit. EMS crews took her to a nearby hospital, where she later died from her injuries.

The case turned from a deadly crash into a criminal investigation after the vehicle left the scene. Investigators with the Raleigh Police Department Crash Reconstruction Unit later recovered the cell phone and the vehicle used in the crash, and police said the vehicle still showed visible damage weeks later. Authorities arrested Gray in Wayne County on June 5.

Gray is being held in the Wayne County Jail pending extradition to Raleigh, and he faces charges of felony hit-and-run and a probation violation. Raleigh police also thanked Wayne County Probation officers for helping locate and apprehend him, underscoring the role that interagency cooperation played in ending the search.

The arrest brings a measure of movement in a case that left White’s family waiting for answers while investigators sorted through evidence, witness accounts and the damaged vehicle. It also puts new attention on a stretch of New Bern Avenue that remains heavily traveled and difficult for people on foot, especially at night.

Raleigh’s Vision Zero materials say speeding sharply increases the risk of death in a vehicle-person collision, and the city reported 59 traffic fatalities from 53 fatal crashes in 2022, including 24 pedestrian deaths. New Bern Avenue is also Raleigh’s first Bus Rapid Transit corridor to begin construction, with work underway between East Street and Swain Street as the city pushes ahead on a route that connects downtown Raleigh with WakeMed and New Hope Road.

For Raleigh, the arrest closes one part of the case. The larger question remains how to keep people alive on streets where cars, crossings and speed still collide with deadly consequences.