Hit-and-run bill seeking revisions

Changes in the state’s hit-and-run statute sparked by the death of a local man will be before the N.C. Senate soon.

If passed, new revisions will require that no one involved in the incident leave the scene unless they are seeking law enforcement or medical assistance.

House bill 217, nicknamed Stephen’s Law, passed through a Senate committee Tuesday with few revisions, said Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford.

“I thought it was a very positive response in the Senate committee,” said Sen. Kay Hagan, D-Guilford, who will be running the bill through the Senate.

Harrison filed the bill during a February session of the N.C. General Assembly in honor of Stephen Gates, a UNC sports broadcaster who was killed in a hit-and-run accident in October of 2003.

A jury found Rabah Samara, who faced charges related to the incident, not guilty in November.

Samara was not driving the vehicle when Gates was hit. He allegedly took over the wheel several hundred feet away from the accident.

The current hit-and-run statute in North Carolina holds that a person facing charges must have driven a vehicle that hit someone.

Pat Gates, Stephen Gates’ mother, said that knowing that, people might try to take advantage of that loophole in the law.

“So we want to close that loophole,” she said.

Harrison said the only revision made to the bill Tuesday was a clarification that passengers under the age of 12 would be exempt from any liability.

“I hope that it discourages folks leaving the scene of the accident,” Harrison said.

She noted that had someone remained on the scene after Stephen Gates was hit, he might have been saved if he had received immediate medical care.

Pat Gates echoed that sentiment. “There’s a good chance that lives will be saved in the future with this,” she said.

The bill is likely to be on the Senate floor for debate today, Harrison said.

Both Harrison and Gates were hopeful that the bill would pass.

“We are optimistic because it got such widespread support in the House,” Pat Gates said.

The bill passed in the House 116-4 in March.

Pat Gates said she was worried the committee might water down the language of the bill, making it less effective, but was pleased that it passed through with little change.

“It was unanimously recommended,” she said.

“That’s a hopeful sign.”

Hagan said she thought the bill would ensure that an incident of this nature could never happen again and would pass through the Senate without any problems.

“I can’t imagine anybody voting against this bill.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.