WINSTON-SALEM (WGHP) — A community has been left speechless after finding out their friend who they saw daily was hit and killed by a car.
The Winston-Salem Police Department is investigating the fatal hit and run that took the life of 49-year-old Dedrick Gaston Wednesday around 10:40 p.m.
“He had people out here that loved and cared for him as well as myself,” Speedway Clerk Kenyada Rayford said.
Speechless is how Rayford feels after finding out one of her regulars she called Bud was killed.
When a neighbor walked through the door, she just knew Bud had died.
“He had tears in his eyes. and I said, ‘Please don’t tell me … Bud,’” Rayford said.
She couldn’t even tell you his first name, but it was his impact, in her words his aura, that made him feel like he was family.
“Just to know that somebody literally on Christmas Day went out there, hit that man and didn’t even care to stop and see if he was OK … He could’ve been saved,” Rayford said.
She hopes for justice and prays this doesn’t happen again.