Driver crashes into Wilmington National Cemetery, damages headstones - WWAY TV3

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Several headstones at the Wilmington National Cemetery are damaged after a car drove through the wall.

Police said Tirron Bright is the driver charged in the crash.

It happened near 20th st and Princess St around midnight. Officials with the cemetery say about six or seven headstones were damaged.

Wilmington police said the vehicle crashed through the wall of the cemetery around 12:15 a.m. Wednesday. Police say Bright then ran from the scene.

TJ Carter lives nearby. He said he was home when it happened and heard the whole thing.

“I was in my kitchen had just gotten off of work around 11:00 and I heard a loud a loud thud,” Carter said. “I looked and I had saw a little geo had bulldozed, had taken out the wall and when I came out to look at it, I could tell both airbags had been ejected.”

Some time later, officers arrested Bright on Market Street and charged him with driving while impaired and fleeing the scene.

“You know accidents happen, but alcohol is the main culprit here,” Carter said.

Carter said this is not the first time a crash has happened here.

“It happened 3-5 years ago and it took a while for them to reassemble this wall here,” Carter said.

Carter said both were devastating.

“I feel bad for the families,” Carter said. “I feel bad for whoever has to look at that. That’s a disgrace.”

Robert Murphy is one of those families. His sister Patricia is buried there.

“I couldn’t believe it, because I knew where her tombstone was in the cemetery,” Murphy said.

That is why he drove by to check on it.

“It’s leaning a little bit,” Murphy said.

He said that is minimal compared to some of the others.

“All you gotta do is just stand it up, some of the others are completely destroyed,” Murphy said.

Murphy said he knows the cemetery is going to take care of it, but he says there’s something to be said about the fact that patricia’s grave is still standing.

“I’m just glad hers is still standing,” Murphy said. “I don’t know the reason it’s still standing, but I’m glad it is.”
Bright is in jail under a $5,000 bond.

A spokeswoman for the cemetery says she is going to order new headstones to replace all of the damaged ones. She said the wall will take the longest to repair.