‘A good-hearted person’: Neighbors remember man hit, killed by car in east Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — Just one night after a driver hit and killed a person on a busy east Charlotte road on Friday, residents of a senior living community are calling for change.

The accident occurred on Dec. 22 around 6 p.m. on Central Avenue and Eastway Drive.

According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, 79-year-old Christopher Columbus Aery was crossing Central Avenue in an area without a crosswalk.

Aery, who was wearing dark clothing at the time of the crash, then fell forward into the path of the Kia Rio, which was traveling east on Central Avenue.

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Resident Berveen Young told veteran crime reporter Glenn Counts she hoped it wasn’t a resident.

“I had his phone number, and I tried to call him, but it didn’t work. I hope this is not the person I was thinking about,” she said.

‘A good-hearted person’: Neighbors remember man hit, killed by car in east Charlotte

Unfortunately for Young and the rest of the apartment community, it was her neighbor. While officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) have not released the victim’s name, others told Counts he was a friend to all.

“That’s a good-hearted person; I’m going to the store; you need something, and he stopped and spoke to everyone,” Lucielle Davis said.

Davis has lived at the complex for seven years and said that at least three residents have been hit by cars while trying to cross Central Avenue to get to the only store within walking distance.

Many of the people renting in the complex have to use canes, crutches, walkers, and even wheelchairs to get around. They say that a fair number of drivers don’t pay attention to the crosswalk, so using it doesn’t guarantee safety.

“When the light is red, I can go ahead and stop, and they will zoom on by. I wait till I see nothing coming, then I go; it is too dangerous up there,” Young said.

“They got blinking for school zones; ok, this is a senior zone,” Davis said, “so why can’t you put some kind of reduced speed when you come through this neighborhood going down the street? You know, blinking to tell them, “Okay, you’re speeding; slow down; that’s what we need; something like that.”

Residents say they are looking to speak with their city council representative and then the council itself to see if something can be done to get drivers to slow down.

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