Chapel Hill cyclist dies from injuries. Driver who opened car door won’t face charges.
Related: “NC doesn’t have a ‘dooring’ law. Chapel Hill could add one after cyclist’s death”
A Chapel Hill cyclist who was critically injured when a driver opened his parked car door on West Franklin Street has died, friends reported Monday.
On Tuesday, police said the driver will not be charged.
Nicholas Watson, 43, died Friday, according to an update on the CaringBridge website, a blog for friends and family. Several of his organs were donated to people in need, the post noted.
The Chapel Hill resident was critically injured Jan. 25, while riding his electric bike on West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill police reported.
He was heading west, between Roberson and Graham streets, when a driver who had pulled into a parking space opened his car door to get out. Watson’s bike hit the door, and he was knocked to the ground, the police report stated.
Police estimated Watson was traveling about 10 mph. He was not wearing a helmet, police spokesman Alex Carrasquillo told The News & Observer.
He was taken to UNC Hospitals, where he remained in critical condition until his death.
Watson is survived by his mother, Pennie Watson. His father Marvin Watson and brother Jay Watson preceded him in death, according to a 2016 obituary for his brother.
A memorial is pending at the Dead Mule Club on West Franklin Street, where Watson was a regular patron, it said.
“His family wants to thank you for the outpouring of love and to let you know that donations will be going to help take care of his pups Fey and Poehler,” friends posted on CaringBridge.
Friends recall love for music, animals
Friends contacted by The N&O remembered Watson as a man who hoped to make the world a better place.
The native of South Bend, Indiana, graduated in 1997 from Jimtown High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Barton College in 2001, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Watson previously worked as an information systems tech at UNC-Chapel Hill, and in recent years, made his own schedule providing tech support for small businesses around the Triangle, said Ben Schikowitz, one of Watson’s friends. The job gave him the flexibility to hang out, have fun and check in on friends, even when they didn’t have the time to spare, he said.
Watson was one of the characters that made Chapel Hill a great place to be, Schikowitz said, making it no surprise that his final act was to donate his organs so that other people could have a better life.
“I think of him as somebody who genuinely wanted the world to be a better place, and he could see it in his mind, and he lived there in his mind,” he said. “It pained him that the world ground on in the way that it does. He had big ideas, he was a really visionary thinker, an outside-the-box thinker, he was a genius, (and) he could fix things.”
When Watson’s brother died, Watson spent months driving around the country in his Jeep, spreading his brother’s ashes in different places, Schikowitz said. Another time, when Schikowitz lost the key to the truck that Watson had given him, Watson came over and carved a new key from memory using a nail file, he said.
Business owner Mike Benson became friends with Watson about 20 years ago when he was opening The Station, a bar in Carrboro. Watson helped to install and improve sound systems for many local clubs and businesses, Benson said.
He was “a big, lovable, bear of a guy” who loved being around animals, hiking at Jordan Lake, and listening to live bands, Benson said. He was helping install a new sound system at Benson’s Franklin Motors, near the crash site, when he was injured, Benson said.
They often would hang out for hours, drinking beer and talking, Benson said. They had been planning a trip to Iceland, he said.
Watson’s former roommate, Andi Morgan, remembered him as funny, dependable, and always ready to help a friend, whether he was changing a flat tire or giving somebody a little of his time, Morgan said. He would maintain the landscaping at his rental home and at the dog park near Southern Village, she said, just “to make places better.”
On Feb. 1, she and other friends gathered at the Dead Mule Club in downtown Chapel Hill to share stories and celebrate Watson’s 43rd birthday.
“He was the one person I could always call,” Morgan said.
“Nick is a solid dude. He’s got a joker grin that could just light up a room,” Morgan said. “He liked to push people’s buttons and make little pranks. You just don’t find anybody that is more of a loyal and dedicated friend than him. He will be missed.”
In 2019, Watson got to meet one of his heroes when Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders brought his campaign to Chapel Hill, Benson said.
Watson paid to have Bernie T-shirts made and handed them out to friends, and he debated them about why Sanders was the best candidate, Benson said. At the Sheraton in Chapel Hill, he posed with Sanders while a friend took their photo.
“That meant so much to him,” Benson said.
Crashes in Chapel Hill raise safety concerns
The crash is the latest to put a spotlight on pedestrian and bike safety in Chapel Hill.
Several children and adults in marked crosswalks and in a playground at Northside Elementary School also were injured last month in crashes involving cars.
Sixteen pedestrians were hit by drivers in the town’s crosswalks last year, and some were injured or killed, Chapel Hill police also reported.
The Chapel Hill Town Council is expected to get an update Wednesday on bike and pedestrian safety enforcement, which has been ramped up across town in the last few weeks.
A resident also has filed a petition asking the council to approve a local “dooring” law, similar to a local ordinance that regulates cycling in Raleigh.
North Carolina is one of eight states nationwide that does not have a law against dooring, in which a driver opens a car door into the path of a passing cyclist, causing the cyclist to be thrown from the bike or sometimes to swerve into oncoming traffic.
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Chapel Hill cyclist dies from injuries. Driver who opened car door won’t face charges.."
