Fifteen minutes was all it took for two lives to be officially over after the vehicle they were in collided with a utility pole and then a tree with such force that survival was never a question. The violent crash happened around 5:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 9, 2025, along the quiet stretch of Carolina Terrace in Bessemer,
Alabama, a time of morning when most of the neighborhood was still asleep and the only sounds were distant traffic and the hum of streetlights.According to officials, the vehicle was being driven by 50-year-old Charles Devon Lockett, a Bessemer resident known in the area, who somehow lost control in a way that sent the car completely off the roadway.
Investigators say the vehicle struck a utility pole first, the impact shearing away parts of the front end, before it continued its trajectory and slammed into a tree with catastrophic energy. There were no skid marks indicating braking, no signs of swerving to avoid something in the road, and no witnesses who saw the moments leading up to the crash.
Inside the mangled wreckage was Lockett’s passenger, 35-year-old Denterrius Deon Hill, also from Bessemer. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office, their injuries so severe that responders could do nothing to help once they arrived. The coroner confirmed their deaths occurred within minutes of the collision, long before emergency crews reached the location.
As daylight broke and investigators worked around the shattered vehicle, the unanswered question became the anchor of the case: what caused Lockett to veer off course in those still, predawn hours? Authorities are examining mechanical factors, speed, possible impairment, and roadway conditions, hoping to piece together a clearer picture of the tragedy that cut two lives short with no warning.
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