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Father Charged In Deadly Hoke County Accident

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Hoke County Accident
HOKE COUNTY, N.C. — Authorities have filed charges against a Raleigh man who, the N.C. Highway Patrol says, failed to stop at a stop sign in Hoke County Sunday, causing an accident that resulted in the deaths of three people.

Arthur Morris was driving with his two daughters when he accidentally ran a stop sign at the intersection of Reservation and Calloway roads, authorities said. Morris' station wagon then collided with a pickup truck. One of his daughters, 6-year-old Norah, and the two people in the truck, Betty Blevins, 57, and Ruby Crouch, 77, both of Raeford, were killed instantly, investigators said.

Morris has been charged with failure to stop at a stop sign and three separate misdemeanor death-by-motor-vehicle charges, the N.C. Highway Patrol said.

Trooper F. K. Crumpler said that because the charges are misdemeanors, Morris will not have to make a first appearance in court and that he would likely only face fines and possibly have his license revoked.

Morris and his daughters had visited the Carolina Horse Park in Five Points. Norah, who would have been 7 years old in June, was riding in a booster seat in the back and was thrown from the booster seat into a field, Crumpler said. Blevins and Crouch were driving home from church.

Morris and his daughter, Meghan, 18, were treated at Moore County Regional Hospital and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

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