Dangers of working in construction a daily reality for colleagues of man killed in I-40 crash

Family and friends of a young father killed in a construction zone on Interstate 40 are calling for safer driving on the roads.

Court documents show Jeyson Alexander Murcia-Guilen was indicted on second-degree murder charges after troopers said his SUV plowed into an active work zone, hitting and killing CJ Bryant on I-40 near Jones Sausage Road in Raleigh.

Around 3 a.m. on May 3, a driver in a Chevrolet SUV hit and killed the 33-year-old Bryant before crashing into construction equipment near Exit 303, according to the State Highway Patrol.

Some construction workers, tow truck drivers and flaggers in the area are speaking out to make their workplace safer. They said that starts with drivers paying attention.

Tonya Leggett-Twyman works as a flagger and sees her share of distracted driving. She worked with Bryant and was devastated by his death, adding that she knows his fiancee and four children are crushed.

"He should sit there for the rest of his days," Leggett-Twyman said of Murcia-Guilen. "You hit him and kept going? Then you hit equipment? Then you ran? You didn’t know you hit this person?"

Murcia-Guillen is in the Wake County Jail without bond, where he faces a number of other felony charges.

“My son was loved by so many people," said Lara Bryant, CJ's mother. "God needed him more than we did. May God bless the boy’s family that did this to my son.”

Troopers believe speed and alcohol were factors in the crash.

One of Bryant's co-workers saw the crash. He did not want to give his name, but described the crash to WRAL News.

"A vehicle came into the job site and hit the foreman of the paving crew and sent him flying ... he got out of his vehicle and ran to the Jones Sausage off-ramp. The cops chased him and found him," the witness said.

A GoFundMe for Bryant has surpassed its $100,000 goal with $148,705 raised for the father who left behind a fiancee and four children.