A Fayetteville man was charged early this morning in a crash which claimed the life of a Roanoke Rapids woman who was a passenger in the car he was driving.

Sergeant L. Bynum said Trooper J.J. Lynch of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol charged 38-year-old Wendell Rouse Jr. with felony death by motor vehicle, a charge which reflects he was impaired at the time of the death of Yolanda R. Clark, 46. Clark’s daughter also sustained critical injuries and was airlifted to Greenville.

In addition to the felony death by motor vehicle count, Rouse was charged with DWI, failure to maintain lane control, reckless driving to endanger and possession of an open container of alcohol in the passenger area.

He remains in the Halifax County Detention Center under a $250,000 secured bond and is scheduled for a first  district court appearance in Halifax Tuesday.

Bynum said, according to Lynch’s preliminary report, that around 1:15 this morning Rouse was driving east on Highway 158 near Buttercup Lane and Community Drive-in.

Bynum said witnesses stated that he passed a vehicle and when he got back into his travel lane he went off the roadway, striking several mailboxes before the vehicle struck a culvert and overturned several times.

As the vehicle was overturning it struck the rear of another vehicle whose driver was stationary in a parking area waiting to turn onto the highway. The driver and passenger of that vehicle also sustained injuries and went to the hospital.

Clark succumbed to the injuries she sustained during the crash, Bynum said.

Bynum said it is estimated that Rouse was traveling at a high rate of speed when the crash occurred.