Vehicle Strikes Two Students; Tennis Player Faces Charges

Posted on Sept. 2, 2008

A UNC tennis star withdrew from school in August after being charged with two felony counts of hit-and-run following a drunken driving incident on Aug. 17, two days before the start of fall classes.

Christopher Harrison Kearney, 20, was driving southbound at about 2 a.m. on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (formerly Airport Boulevard) just north of downtown Chapel Hill when he veered off the road. His 2004 Nissan Murano hit a stone wall before hitting two pedestrians, both UNC students, on the sidewalk.

The pedestrians, Carolyn Anne Kubitschek, 21, and Casey Marie LeSawyer, 21, both seniors, were transported to UNC Hospitals, where they initially were listed in serious condition. Both have been released from the hospital.

Kearney, who was a junior at UNC, walked away from the site and was arrested nearby soon after, police said. He registered a 0.18 blood alcohol concentration, more than twice the state’s legal limit of 0.08 for those 21 and older.

Kearney was charged with two counts of felony hit-and-run, driving while intoxicated, possession of fake identification, underage drinking and misdemeanor reckless driving. He later was charged with two counts of felony serious injury by vehicle.

A judge ruled on Aug. 18 that Kearney could stay in his hometown of Irvine, Calif., until his preliminary hearing. Kearney was released on $50,000 bond that day.

Kearney was Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year in 2007 in tennis and was selected to the All-ACC team in 2008. He will not be able to play for any UNC team should he be convicted of a felony.

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