Tuesday, April 24, 2018
By Sam Walker on February 8, 2018
Memorial along N.C. 12. Zahariev’s death jump started construction of the multi-use path. (Phyllis Cole)
A former Corolla lifeguard will spend the next two and one-half months in jail after pleading guilty to fatally striking a pedestrian with his vehicle on N.C. 12 in Corolla in 2014.
Peter Thomas Luke, 41, who now resides in Wilmington, began serving 75 days in the Currituck Detention Center this week after his guilty plea to misdemeanor counts of death by vehicle and hit and run.
Asen Zahariev, 21, of Bulgaria was walking home the night of August 25, 2014, in the same direction as northbound traffic when he was hit by the SUV.
The Highway Patrol said his body was thrown 30 feet from the point of impact near the Harris Teeter supermarket where he worked.
Zahariev
The next day, Luke came to the fire station in Corolla and reported he thought he had struck a deer sometime around midnight with his SUV, according to the Highway Patrol.
Upon further investigation, the damage to the vehicle was found to be consistent with injuries suffered by the victim.
Luke, who was a lieutenant lifeguard with Corolla Ocean Rescue at the time, was arrested and charged with felony hit-and-run causing serious injury or death.
Zahariev’s death prompted Currituck County officials to fast track construction of additional walking and bike paths alongside N.C. 12.
A Pennsylvania couple was killed the summer before by a vehicle that ran off N.C. 12 a few miles north of where Zahariev died.
The Daily Advance reported Luke was tried last month, but problems with having DNA evidence available at the time forced prosecutors to offer a plea agreement.
Superior Court Judge Jerry Tillett suspended a 45-day sentence for the misdemeanor hit and run charge, and ordered Luke to serve two years of supervised probation, as directed by state sentencing guidelines.
Luke was also ordered to pay fines and court costs of $2,500 and restitution of $2,600 for work done by the state crime lab, and will not be able to obtain a driver license until his probation is complete.
Admission to the Wright Brothers National Memorial will cost more starting June 1, as part of a plan by the National Park Service to help address an $11.6 billion backlog of maintenance and construction projects across the country.
The Currituck Banks Reserve will be closed to the public April 23-27 while the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program performs an aerial wildlife damage management operation for feral swine.
A 51-year-old man from Virginia Beach died Friday night and a 43-year-old man from Kill Devil Hills died Sunday. Police say heroin was involved, and tests are underway to determine if the powerful drug Fentanyl was involved.
