CHARLOTTE — A quick trip to the store turned deadly for a west Charlotte preacher when his SUV hit another vehicle trying to merge into traffic. The collision caused his SUV to flip.
Gaston County reporter Ken Lemon talked with that man’s wife.
Herbert Wilson had about a 10-minute drive from his home in west Charlotte to the Belmont Walmart a couple blocks off of Wilkinson Boulevard.
Police said another driver pulled out of a parking lot into traffic on Wilkinson Boulevard at Browntown Road when the wreck happened.
“I can’t believe it,” said Sheryl Wilson, Herbert Wilson’s wife.
Sheryl Wilson said her husband was like an angel sent from God.
The two had Bible study together at home Tuesday afternoon before leaving for a quick run to Walmart.
“Had no idea he wasn’t going to come back,” Sheryl Wilson said.
Belmont Police said another driver hit his SUV from the side before it flipped.
The 64-year-old Army veteran was unresponsive when they got there.
Sheryl Wilson said he was running late, and he didn’t answer his phone.
Police later called her.
“They said, ‘We’ll be there in 10 minutes,’ and I knew then, something wasn’t right,” Sheryl Wilson said. “My heart just feels empty.”
She said they helped a nonprofit charity.
Once a month the two of them made lunches and gave them to needy people.
It was a personal mission, she said.
“He grew up very poor and he used to have to pick in the garbage for food,” his wife said, wondering who will help pass out food next week.
Police don’t believe speed or impairment played a role in the crash.
They said the driver stayed the scene and she is cooperating with them. She has not been charged.
Police said they must get the data from both cars, then give a report to the district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors will decide what charges, if any, she may face.
“God have mercy in your soul,” Sheryl Wilson said.
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