Report: Impaired driver who caused 2-vehicle crash on I-485 hit family's SUV at 110 mph

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new report shows a family, whose Chevy landed in the woods after being hit by a drunk driver on Interstate 485 last week, was hit at 110 miles per hour.

The crash happened around 3 a.m. on March 19 on I-485 near Oakdale Road.

Nicole Cofield with the Cook Community Volunteer Fire and Rescue helped save the family of four from the wreck.

Cofield said her job was to look for a passenger who had been thrown 40-feet over a fence and when they finally found him with flashlights, she said he was freezing.

"He was laying right next to a tree that had fallen down. It was kind of stablizing him there as well," Cofield said. "We carried him back to where the hole in the fence was and through the woods up and over a trench."

The family is still recovering from injuries to their heads, back, and limbs and was unable to go on camera, but their attorney Daniel Grist sent Channel 9 a statement saying, "The family has a lot of physical and emotional healing, but are lucky to be alive. Every day you're on this earth is a blessing and the family appreciates that more today than ever."

Troopers said Allen Blankenship caused the accident. A witness told Channel 9's Gina Esposito Blankenship swerved toward his car first before hitting the family's.

The witness said he stopped to help the family, checked on Blankenship, and called 911.

"He was definitely intoxicated," William Falkenberry said. "I think he thought he hit me because he told me he was sorry and he's like 'I'm sorry, man' and he reached for my hand and asked for a cigarette."

Troopers said Blankenship was driving while impaired. He was booked into jail Thursday after spending more than a week in the hospital.

(Allen Blankenship)

Officials said he is charged with a felony for the crash, in addition to resisting an officer.

The Cooks Community Fire Department said its noticed it has been responding to more wrecks on the same stretch of I-485 at Oakdale.

Around the same time last year, two people were killed in a wrong way crash in the same location. Troopers said the crashes they respond to in the area tend to be more serious because a lot of people speed.

Cox Media Group