Greenville NC Woman Charged After Bystander Crushed by Car

An argument in a hospital parking lot turned into a felony case Saturday when an 18-year-old Greenville woman allegedly rammed her car into another vehicle, pinning and crushing a bystander who had nothing to do with the dispute. Police say Sharon Lenise Strong got behind the wheel of her Nissan Sentra during the fight, threatened to run over the other woman, then drove into the passenger door of a white Dodge Durango, trapping Melvin Adams between the door and door frame. According to court documents cited by the Charlotte Observer, Strong had been arguing with an unidentified woman in the parking lot at 2100 Stantonsburg Road in Greenville when she got into her car, put it in gear, and declared, 'I'm gonna run this ho over.' Investigators have not released what sparked the initial argument. Police said Adams was not involved in the dispute at all, but ended up sustaining serious upper- and lower-body injuries after being pinned by Strong's vehicle. The parking lot sits on the campus of ECU Health Medical Center, a 1,140-bed tertiary care referral hospital and Level I trauma center that serves 29 counties across eastern North Carolina, according to the American Hospital Directory. Greenville sits roughly 80 miles southeast of downtown Raleigh, per the Charlotte Observer's report. Pitt County booking records show Strong was booked into the Pitt County Detention Center the same day as the parking lot altercation, initially held without bond on a charge of felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, according to Pitt County Mugshots Zone. She also faces charges of communicating threats, disorderly conduct, and injury to personal property tied to the damage done to the Durango. Under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-32(b), assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury is a Class E felony carrying a maximum sentence of up to 88 months in state prison, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. State case law and statutory interpretation recognize that a motor vehicle can be legally treated as a deadly weapon when it's operated in a manner capable of inflicting death or serious physical harm, per the Powers Law Firm PA. The communicating threats charge against Strong is tied to the 'I'm gonna run this ho over' statement cited in arrest warrants. She also faces disorderly conduct and injury to personal property charges, though the exact dollar figure for the damage to the Durango has not been disclosed. Strong's initial no-bond status traces back to North Carolina's Pretrial Integrity Act, which bars magistrates from setting immediate bail on specified violent felony charges and instead requires a district court judge to determine release conditions within 48 hours, per the UNC School of Government. The 2023 law was designed to ensure judicial oversight before people accused of violent offenses can be released back into the community. Adams' current medical condition following the incident has not been publicly updated. The parking lot's location on hospital grounds meant emergency care was close at hand, though it's unclear from available records whether Adams was treated on site or transported elsewhere. The available sources do not verify the other recent Greenville arrests or the Pitt County violent-crime statistics referenced in the article. No additional details have been released about what led to the initial confrontation between Strong and the other woman, and it remains unclear whether either had any prior relationship. The case is being handled as part of the broader wave of violent-crime arrests moving through the Pitt County court system this year.