An Aberdeen man was sentenced to 96 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release following a fatal DWI crash in January 2023. Joel Newton Brewer, 34, pled guilty to felony death by motor vehicle on Nov. 30, 2023.
According to court documents and other information presented in court, on Jan. 3, 2023, United States Army Military Police responded to emergency calls regarding a traffic collision at Fort Bragg Military Reservation (now Fort Liberty). Officers arrived to find two vehicles involved in the crash. One vehicle contained Brewer, and the other contained an infant passenger with serious injuries. The driver of the vehicle with the infant had been ejected upon impact.
The investigation revealed that Brewer was driving 89 miles per hour in a 55 miles per hour zone as he drove left of the center line and struck the front of the victim’s vehicle. The victim then lost control of her vehicle, and it veered toward the right shoulder of the road. When the victim’s vehicle came to a stop, the victim was ejected from the vehicle and partially decapitated. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The infant suffered life-threatening injuries but survived. Brewer’s alcohol concentration was 0.15. In North Carolina, it is illegal to drive a vehicle while noticeably impaired or with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher.
Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement in a news release on Wednesday after the sentencing was concluded. U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III presided over the sentencing. The Office of Provost Marshal and Army Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sebastian Kielmanovich and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Brickey prosecuted the case.
File photo/Sandhills Sentinel.
Contributed.
