21-year-old dies after car hits brick barrier, NC cops say. College schoolmate charged

A student was close to finishing his college degree when he was killed in a crash, rattling a small North Carolina campus.

Peyton Lee, a 21-year-old college senior, was riding in a car when it slammed into a brick barrier on Friday, Sept. 16, Sgt. J.R. Benton of the N.C. State Highway Patrol told McClatchy News in a phone interview.

Lee died in the crash, which injured three other students. All attended the University of Mount Olive.

“It is an extremely sad day for the University of Mount Olive,” H. Edward Croom, president of the school, wrote on Facebook. “We are a close-knit family here at the University, and this has hit us hard.”

Now, one of the 21-year-old’s schoolmates is charged in the fatal crash. Dylan Stacy, of Sanford, is charged with driving while impaired, no seat belt, careless and reckless driving, and driving after consuming alcohol under the age of 21, Benton said. At the time of the Wayne County crash, Stacy was 20 years old, which is under the legal drinking age in North Carolina.

The crash happened on Cricket Ridge Road, near the college campus and roughly 65 miles southeast of Raleigh. Stacy had been behind the wheel when he ran off the road, hitting brick driveway markers and overturning in a yard, Benton told McClatchy News .

No one in the car was wearing a seat belt, Benton said. Stacy and two of his passengers were injured and taken to nearby hospitals, including one who was critically injured.

Lee, who was from the town of Four Oaks, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lee is remembered as an “old soul” who was studying Environmental & Natural Resources in college. He also was involved in church and “loved his family to no end,” according to post on the Faith OFWB Church - Four Oaks Facebook page and his online obituary.

“It all seems so unfair,” the obituary on the Rose & Graham Funeral Home website said.

After the deadly wreck, the University of Mount Olive in its Facebook post said it made a tribute table for Lee on its campus.

“We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the Lee family, and we uplift all of the others in our prayers,” the school’s president wrote on Sept. 16. “Please be in prayer for all four of these families and for our University family.”

The college is a private, Christian school that had about 2,000 students in fall 2021, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The university and N.C. Highway Patrol didn’t immediately share additional information with McClatchy News on Sept. 18.

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