Wrightsville Beach police used a partial license plate number captured from a street camera to find the driver of a truck involved in a hit-and-run last week that left a 77-year-old woman visiting Wrightsville Beach with several fractured bones.
Wrightsville Beach police charged Joseph Frank Klus III, 34, of Wilmington, with felony hit-and-run two hours after the incident occurred at about 3:31 p.m. on Thursday.  Capt. Valerie Blanton said that investigators were able to see part of the truck’s license plate on a camera near the intersection of South Lumina Avenue and Waynick Boulevard on the island’s south end. Investigators also used debris collected at the site to determine the type of truck after a local auto parts store helped match part identification numbers to the vehicle make and model, which was not the Toyota Tundra that witnesses originally reported, but instead was a Dodge Ram.
Though only a partial plate number, they were able to match it to a vehicle that fit the description, which police said was a silver or gray four-door Dodge Ram pickup truck. A Wrightsville Beach police officer who was cross-sworn with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office went to the 2812 Miranda Court address registered to truck, where police found and arrested Klus, Blanton said. The 2002 Dodge truck had visible damage that police suspect was from the collision with the woman, Blanton said.
The woman from Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, who suffered several fractures, was in town visiting relatives and walking across the street near 220 Waynick Boulevard when the silver truck traveling north struck the woman while she crossed the inside line, knocking her into the southbound inside lane, Blanton said. The woman, who was alert and responsive, was taken by emergency medical services to New Hanover County Regional Medical Center, police said.
After the collision, police said the truck left the island, prompting a be-on-the-lookout alert to other area police agencies.
Klus was booked into the New Hanover County Detention Facility, where he is being held on a $25,000 bond. Records show Klus had DWI convictions in January 2013 and November 2006.
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