GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Greensboro police confirmed James Owens, 58, died after he was hit by a car on US 29 on Wednesday night.
“I am really hurt. I am lost for words. I didn’t sleep .. last night,” said Pamela Herbin, a lifelong friend of Owens.
A memorial at the crash site has been set up.
“We brought balloons, a cross and candles,” Herbin said. Those are all things Owens would often bring to his friends.
“James was always that type of person. Every week, he would bring me some kind of stuffed animal or flowers to the house … That was my best friend,” Herbin said.
The pair had been friends for more than 40 years.
“How big his heart was and how giving he was. He was just a good person … He never met a stranger. He was the life of the party. Everybody loved James, and I am really going to miss him,” Herbin said.
She does not know what exactly Owens was doing Wednesday night when he was hit but said he was likely going to visit a friend.
“It just don’t seem real,” Herbin said.
What is all too real is the sight of someone crossing the busy highway.
“People cross … all the time instead of going across. I call it the catwalk. They would rather take a chance and go across the street,” said James Teddy Wilson Jr., who works at Woodard Funeral Home near the crash site.
Almost daily, they see pedestrians cross US 29 by the funeral home.
On Wednesday around 5 p.m., a Guilford County Sheriff’s Office employee was involved in the crash with a county-issued car.
A 911 call revealed the employee was on the way home from work and called in for help.
There is a pedestrian bridge but people who work nearby say people hop the fence all the time, and they want something done.
“We are certainly going to be looking into that and what else we can do,” said Marikay Abuzuiater, with the Greensboro City Council.
This crash comes one week after the City of Greensboro launched a street safety campaign in response to a rise in pedestrian deaths this year on Greensboro streets.
“Unfortunately, it is human nature … to just go the shortest route … It takes a few minutes longer, but the life you save may be your own,” Abuzuaiter said.
Greensboro police have not released any information about possible charges in the crash.
