CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's been two years since Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer Mia Goodwin died after she and three fellow officers were helping close a portion of Interstate 85 in December 2021. Goodwin was struck and killed by a truck driver who crashed into CMPD vehicles and another tractor-trailer. She was 33.
Goodwin was the first female CMPD officer to be killed in the line of duty. She had worked for the department for six years. Goodwin had just returned to work from maternity leave before the crash. She left behind a then-3-year-old child, a then-1-year-old child, a then-4-month-old baby, and her husband Brenton Goodwin, who was a firefighter with the Charlotte Fire Department.
"Nothing’s going to bring Mia back to her three kids, to her husband," Allen Brotherton, the Goodwin family's attorney, said in January 2023. "And the wounds are still very raw."
In November, a bridge in Charlotte's University City neighborhood was renamed to the Mia Goodwin Memorial Bridge so her legacy could live on.
Mia's father, Antonio Figueroa was emotional during that bridge dedication ceremony.
"Every time we come to these events, it’s still heart wrenching," Figueroa said. "It reopens the scab. But to everybody here, my brothers and sisters in the blue, to the Charlotte community, you guys have been amazing.”
Over the years, CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings has expressed the loss of Goodwin was difficult for the department and those she worked alongside.
"Today and every day, we remember Officer Mia Goodwin for her service to CMPD and the City of Charlotte," CMPD posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "Officer Goodwin’s sacrifice will never be forgotten."
"We’ve learned a great deal from this traffic accident in things that we put in place to make sure we continue to be better and continue to be safer when we come to investigating collisions," CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said earlier in 2023.
Police said Daniel Morgan, 50, was operating a tractor-trailer and failed to move left to a single open lane of travel on southbound I-85 early on Dec. 22, 2021. Morgan then failed to reduce speed and struck four CMPD vehicles, a semi-truck, and Goodwin, according to the police report.
Court records allege Morgan, who is from High Point, North Carolina, removed a device from his truck to try and hinder the investigation. State troopers said Morgan's trailer wasn't supposed to be operated at the time of the crash and had fictitious plates. Morgan was the manager of Prime Time Express LLC, according to North Carolina filings.
Morgan's defense teams said after the crash, an MRI revealed he had a tumor that was applying pressure to his optic nerve. Medical experts said that mass could cause dizziness, loss of vision or blackout. It's unclear if any of that was what led to the deadly crash.
He was charged with involuntary manslaughter, misdemeanor death by vehicle, failure to reduce speed, and felony failure to move over for stopped emergency vehicles following the crash and pleaded guilty to all the charges in January 2023.
Morgan spoke directly to Goodwin's loved ones in court on after the judge accepted his plea deal.
"So sorry; I can't tell you what happened, but I'm so sorry," Morgan said.
Morgan was later sentenced to 29 months in prison. The maximum sentence Morgan could have received before the plea deal would have been more than 11 years.