Driver charged in Durham crash that killed Duke worker

A driver has been charged in connection with a recent crash on the Durham Freeway that killed a Duke University employee.

2021-08-25

Gregory Allan Coley, 41, of Durham, is charged with felony death by vehicle, felony serious injury by vehicle, driving while impaired and reckless driving to endanger, according to a State Highway Patrol report.

The report states that Coley was driving at 143 mph when his Mercedes Benz slammed into the back of a Lyft in the northbound lanes of N.C. Highway 147 near the Ellis Road exit on Aug. 3. After the collision, the Mercedes flipped and ended up in the middle of the highway two-tenths of a mile away, and the Lyft ran off the road into a guardrail.

Daniel Joseph Watt, 26, who was sitting in the backseat of the Lyft, was thrown from the vehicle and was killed. He was not wearing a seatbelt, according to troopers.

Alex Marroquia, 26, the Lyft driver, and Coley were both injured in the crash.

The Highway patrol report states that Coley's blood-alcohol content was 0.15 percent, which is nearly double the level at which a driver is considered impaired under North Carolina law.

Watt was a residence coordinator in Student Affairs at Duke. His brother said he was returning from visiting their mother in Florida when the crash happened.