Driver charged three weeks after alleged fatal hit-and-run in southwest Charlotte of man in a wheelchair: CMPD

CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A man has been charged after a hit-and-run in southwest Charlotte killed a man in a wheelchair, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Around 10:15 p.m. on Sunday, August 24, officers responded to a crash involving a pedestrian in the 4500 block of Old Pineville Road. When they arrived, they found 52-year-old Mark Hendel in the roadway and a wheelchair nearby.

Hendel was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. Just over three weeks later, on Monday, September 15, Hendel died from his injuries, officials said.

Court documents said Hendel was not wearing reflective clothing and was not in a marked crosswalk at the time of the crash.

Witnesses described the suspect’s vehicle to CMPD, who later found it parked behind a fence in the 300 block of Webster Place, about one mile from where the crash happened. According to Google Earth images since 2019, the vehicle was never parked behind the fence.

Investigators identified 59-year-old Ioannis Vlahos as the suspect. He was booked into the Mecklenburg County Jail under a $250,000 bond for felony hit and run inflicting serious injury or death, no operator’s license, and no liability insurance.