Driver faces DWI charge after party bus plows into Raleigh home in Oakwood historic neighborhood: Police

Posted: Jul 11, 2026 / 08:48 AM EDT

Updated: Jul 12, 2026 / 07:44 AM EDT

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A man is facing a DWI charge after a party bus crashed into a car, a utility pole, and then plowed into a 100-year-old home in a historic neighborhood near downtown Raleigh early Saturday morning, police and fire officials said.

The incident was reported around 12:50 a.m. in the 200 block of Pace Street near North Person Street in the Oakwood neighborhood, according to the Raleigh Police Department.

The man driving the bus, who was the only occupant at the time, was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, police said.

No one else was injured in the wreck a block north of East Peace Street, according to police. The damaged home was marked unsafe for occupancy after the crash, according to the Raleigh Fire Department.

Video from the scene showed major damage to the front of the home, with the front of the bus demolishing the front porch. The top of the bus also struck the porch ceiling and ripped down about half of the porch roof of the home, which property records indicate was built in 1920.

Gary Fidell Kearse III, 58, of Raleigh, was charged with DWI commercial vehicle after the crash into the 215 Pace St. home, according to an arrest warrant completed by Raleigh police.

The warrant said Kearse was driving the bus despite his license revocation in connection with an impaired driving charge.

The scene after a party bus crashed into a Raleigh home on Pace Street in the Oakwood neighborhood early Saturday morning. (Cole Sams/CBS 17)

He was also charged with reckless driving to endanger after police accused him of failing to use “due caution,” the warrant said.

Arrest records indicate other charges and citations against Kearse include:

Felony injuring utility wires/fixture
Injury to real property
Failure to maintain lane control
Possession of an open container of alcohol

Raleigh police did not provide any other information about the crash.

The scene after a party bus crashed into a Raleigh home on Pace Street in the Oakwood neighborhood early Saturday morning. Photo courtesy: Adam Knott

Before the crash, Kearse was already out on bond following a DWI charge from April 24 in Cary, according to a previous arrest warrant and a conditions of release order.

Kearse was arrested on a DWI charge on Tryon Road just before Southeast Cary Parkway, an arrest warrant by the Cary Police Department said. A DWI checklist document indicated the initial April 24 call was about a “suspicious vehicle” stopped in the road with the “driver asleep at wheel.”

The Pace Street home well before it was hit by a party bus in Raleigh early Saturday. Courtesy: Wake County Real Estate Records from 2022

A court affidavit indicated a blood sample had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.23 grams per 100 milliliters of blood. Kearse had his driver’s license revoked on June 9, according to court documents.

Kearse was held without bond Saturday in the Wake County Detention Center, according to Wake County Sheriff’s Office records.