Wilkinson Boulevard closed for hours after alleged drunk driver killed in crash

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One man was killed and two others were injured after a crash early Thursday morning on Wilkinson Boulevard in west Charlotte.

The wreck happened around 12:30 a.m., when a Dodge Ram pickup truck knocked down several utility poles along Wilkinson, near Sparta Avenue.

Investigators told Channel 9 that the Dodge was traveling inbound on Wilkinson Blvd. near Rosemont Street when it ran off the right side of the road and clipped a utility pole.

The truck then began to slide sideways, crashing into another utility pole. It then flipped and struck both a metal box and metal light pole, police said.

Finally, the Dodge slid into a metal fence where it came to rest after striking a parked vehicle in a car lot.

The driver, 22-year-old Zachary Eubanks, was partially ejected during the crash and pronounced dead at the scene.

His two passengers in the truck, Ian Stanley, 22, and Reed Camp, 23, were taken to Carolinas Medical Center with non life-threatening injuries, police said.

Alcohol and speed both appear to be factors in the crash, investigators said, also noting that nobody in the truck was wearing a seatbelt.

The inbound lanes of Wilkinson Blvd. were closed between Morrisfield Drive and Old Steele Creek Road -- about a mile stretch between the airport and uptown.

The roadway was reopened just before noon.

A handful of businesses in the immediate area were without power.

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Cox Media Group