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Man arrested after fatal Mount Holly hit-and-run

Police are searching for the driver who struck Devin Valentine Friday night and then drove off.

MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. — The 23-year-old seriously injured and placed on life support after a hit-and-run collision in Mount Holly on Friday has died, the family confirmed to WCNC Charlotte's Briana Harper Tuesday.

Devin Valentine was hospitalized and placed on life support after being struck near the intersection of West Charlotte Avenue (Highway 27 West) and West Central Avenue.

Tuesday evening, Mount Holly Police identified a suspect in this case. Police report 81-year-old Hubert Joseph Laine was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, felony hit and run, and reckless driving. He is currently being held in the Gaston County Jail on a $1 million bond. 

Credit: Mount Holly Police

A vigil was held Tuesday night for Valentine before family and friends learned of his passing. A GoFundMe fundraiser page had been posted by his family to cover medical bills and expenses.

"Pray as hard as you can," the campaign page says. "He is fighting for his life due to the careless acts of someone who thought it was okay to keep driving after hitting a human being rather than possibly saving him from the tragedy of life support."

Family members said Valentine suffered a tear to the heart, a fractured pelvis and internal bleeding on the brain. Doctors had been scheduled to check for brain damage.

“He’s now on life support so it’s a waiting game at this point to see if he can come out of it," sister Kristina Valentine told Harper Monday.

Family and friends are hopeful the driver responsible will turn themselves in.

"All we want is for them to come forward, " close friend Hannah Haymaker said. "This is such a harsh thing that they’ve done. If they would have stayed at the scene with Devin it could have changed everything.”

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