Authorities have not decided what charges to bring in the case of a Salisbury man who died after being dragged into a creek by a car.
Clinton Leon Simpson, 37, of 1424 Bringle Ferry Road, told police before he died about how he and David Samuel Simmons, 31, of 103 W. Steele St., had been arguing over money.
When Simmons tried to drive away, Simpson said he reached into the car, which began dragging him before running into the creek near the intersection of Shaver and Liberty streets early Wednesday.
Simpson was found partly submerged in the creek water. He talked to police at Rowan Regional Medical Center before he was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, where he later died.
Police arrested Simmons later in an unrelated incident, and he remains in the Rowan County Detention Center on unrelated charges.
Salisbury Police Lt. L.W. Lovette said an autopsy will be available later today or Monday, but that other chemical tests will take longer.
The District Attorney’s office will determine any charges after the results are available.
“They had been together earlier in the evening and had been looking for drugs,” Lovette said this morning.
Wendy Redmon, Simpson’s sister, said this morning that her brother served in the Gulf War and was a good brother, father and husband.
“I would like to say that my brother has nine siblings, and we were very close to him,” Redmon said.
She said she is upset that police say they found no drugs in the wrecked car but still say that drugs were involved.
“If you don’t see any drugs, I don’t see why people keep on with it,” she said. “If they’re going to say it, they have to have some proof.
“If you look at this man, he doesn’t look like a 37-year old. He had the body of a teen-ager.”
She attributed that to his tour in the U.S. Army and healthy living.
“My brother was a veteran of the Gulf War. He had gotten an honorable discharge from the
U.S.Army,” she said.
Contact Joanie Morris at 704-797-4264 or jmorris@salisburypost.com
.
Today's News
