What started as an argument turned deadly when a man ran over his friend and drove away Saturday night.
Danny Ray Schronce, 43, of Miller Drive, Newton died on the way to the hospital, said his daughter Holly Schronce.
Gary Leatherman, 24, was arrested in Mountain View when an off-duty Catawba County Sheriff's deputy who lives near the scene of the crime spotted Leatherman's Chevy Silverado. He called dispatch and Trooper C.B. Cline of the Highway Patrol arrived and arrested Leatherman. He was charged with DWI and jailed on a $5,000 secured bond. He has since bonded out of jail.
Schronce, 21, lives next door to her father and saw the accident.
"The man almost hit me,'' she said.
She said Leatherman had helped her husband with his car in their front yard before his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend pulled up.
Leatherman had gone to the area to meet the couple, said Cline.
Leatherman and the couple got into a loud argument in the street. The neighbors heard the commotion and came out of their homes, said Schronce.
She said Leatherman and her father were friends and he was trying to calm everyone down.
Leatherman had tried to block the couple's SUV during the argument but they got around his truck, Cline said.
Leatherman threw his truck in reverse and took off to go after them, Schronce said. When he did, he hit her father.
"He hit him and ran over him,'' she said.
Schronce's husband Chris White said, "There was never a pause. That truck went full blast up the road. He was fishtailing the whole way up to the highway.''
Nicole Smith lives next door to Shronce and said she came home just after the accident and tried to comfort her friend.
"She had tried to give her daddy mouth-to-mouth and her mouth was all bloody,'' Smith said. "When I heard about it I couldn't do anything but cry. He should be charged with murder.''
Schronce's friends and family were shocked by his death.
"It was wrong to hit a man who didn't even do anything wrong,'' said Smith of her neighbor and landlord. "I don't really call that an accident.''
Through tears Shronce said she wants to find a way to forgive the man she watched kill her father.
"I want to forgive him because he didn't mean to kill my dad but I also want to strangle him,'' she said. "I saw it and I still can't believe it happened. He didn't deserve that.''
Cline said he will meet with the District Attorney's office to determine which additional charges are appropriate for Leatherman.
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