Background: The area where Mark Hendel was reportedly hit in the 4500 block of Old Pineville Road in Charlotte, North Carolina (Google Maps). Inset: Ioannis Vlahos (Mecklenburg County Sheriff”s Office).
A man in North Carolina is accused of crashing his SUV into a man in a wheelchair so badly that the device was lodged into his vehicle.
Ioannis Vlahos, 59, has been charged with felony hit and run inflicting serious injury or death, driving with no operator’s license, and driving with no liability insurance, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced on Wednesday. The victim of the crash, 52-year-old Mark Hendel, died from his injuries on Monday.
On Aug. 24 at about 10:15 p.m., officers were called about a reported crash on the 4500 block of Old Pineville Road in Charlotte near East Exmore Drive. When they got there, they found a man — later revealed to be Hendel — “laying in a roadway and a wheel located further down the road,” according to an affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime.
Hendel was brought to a hospital with “serious injuries” — wounds that hospital staff later described as “life threatening.” While Hendel was stable and “expected to survive,” roughly three weeks later, he succumbed to his injuries.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
Officers began investigating and learned that Hendel was not wearing any reflective clothing or lights on his wheelchair while it was dark out, nor was he in the marked crosswalk at the time of the crash.
However, it was not the suspected driver who alerted authorities to the crash. Police said Hendel was “struck by an unknown vehicle that did not remain on scene,” and “the driver of the unknown vehicle also failed to notify emergency services.”
Witnesses provided a breakthrough in the case, per the affidavit. According to police, one of them said a blue Ford Expedition SUV with white rear windows hit the victim and then pulled into the parking lot of a nearby tavern and “removed the wheelchair” before driving off.
Another witness said they saw a man “remove the wheelchair from in his vehicle” and that there was “damage to the grill and radiator.”
Officers found the SUV in question less than five minutes away from the tavern, and after running its information through state databases, learned that it was registered to Vlahos. “The witness describe[d] Vlahos as a white male dark hair and with a larger belly,” the affidavit stated, adding that the description given matched his state DMV picture.
Further investigation found that Vlahos allegedly did not have insurance on his vehicle or licensure to drive in North Carolina. He was arrested and booked into the Mecklenburg County Jail, where he remains on a $250,000 secured bond, according to court records.
Vlahos’ first court appearance was Tuesday, and he has a probable cause hearing scheduled for Oct. 7.
