GASTONIA, N.C. — Gastonia police are still investigating a serious crash after a 74-year-old woman died days later.
The other driver involved is accused of driving through a stop sign on Saturday.
Eyewitness News reporter Ken Lemon talked to witnesses about why they think those charges should be upgraded.
The witnesses said a 21-year-old driver was headed south on Scruggs Street, ran a stop sign and hit a car slamming it into a concrete wall.
The 74-year-old victim in the car died two days later.
Kiara Russell was just a few yards away when the crash happened over the weekend.
"I just think like, 'Oh my God, I just witnessed an accident,'" Russell said.
She rushed over to help and saw Emily Rhyne in the passenger's seat.
She said the driver was OK, but Rhyne couldn't speak.
"She just looked like she was in shock," Russell said.
Another witness said he saw the driver who hit Rhyne seconds before the crash.
"He came up this road," Ernest Mason said. "From the time he hit his brakes he darted out."
Both witnesses said it looked like the driver Richard Accurso III was trying to beat the car onto Gaston Avenue but he didn't make it.
"It's sad," witness Kimberly Mason said. I'm very sorry for the family"
Police charged Accurso with failing to stop for a stop sign.
Since Rhyne died at the hospital Monday, they are going to meet with the district attorney to see if Accurso should be charged with death by motor vehicle.
Witnesses said he needs to be held accountable.
"Yea, it looks like he ran a stop sign for one anyway," Russell said.
"I think it's a shame that people's lives are cut short like that because of people's ignorance of not stopping," Mason said.
Rhyne's family did not want to talk to Channel 9.