Party Bus Driver Had a BAC of 0.23 and No Valid License When He Crashed Into a Raleigh Home at Midnight

At 12:40 a.m. on a Saturday in July, a party bus rolled through one of Raleigh’s most protected historic neighborhoods and didn’t stop.

It hit a parked car. Then a utility pole. Then it went straight through the front porch of a home that had been standing since 1920.

One neighbor woke up to the sound of it. “I heard this loud ka-bam and said, ‘Oh crap, what happened?'”

The House That Stood for 100 Years

The home at 215 Pace Street sits inside Historic Oakwood, Raleigh’s first federally recognized historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974.

This neighborhood was nearly bulldozed in the 1970s to make way for a highway. Residents fought back and saved it. It has stood through 150 years of Raleigh’s history.

One drunk driver took out its front porch in seconds. The Raleigh Fire Department marked it unsafe for occupancy before sunrise.

Three Red Flags. Zero Stops.

This is the part most coverage is glossing over.

On April 24, Gary Fidell Kearse III, 58, was found asleep at the wheel on Tryon Road in Cary. His BAC was 0.23. For commercial drivers, the legal limit is 0.04. He was nearly six times over. He was charged with DWI.

His license was revoked in early June.

On June 27, he was cited for a hit-and-run, driving with a suspended license and no insurance.

Then on July 12, he got behind the wheel of a commercial party bus anyway.

He was out on bond for two pending charges the night he drove into that house. His company’s Facebook tagline: “YOU DRINK I DRIVE.”

According to FOX8, Kearse faces charges including DWI in a commercial vehicle, reckless driving, felony injuring utility wires, two counts of injury to real property, open container, and driving on a revoked license. He appeared before a judge Monday and posted a $10,000 bond.

CBS17 knocked on his door Monday evening. Nobody answered.

No passengers were on the bus that night. The home’s residents had recently moved out. Nobody died. That part is luck.

Why This Matters

Rachel Abbott, owner of a separate Triangle-area party bus company called The Rabbott, said it best: “It is just completely unacceptable and willful recklessness.”

She is right. And the numbers back her up.

According to NHTSA, 11,904 people died in drunk-driving crashes in 2024. One person every 44 minutes. Every single one was preventable. Alcohol-impaired drivers in fatal crashes are three times more likely to have prior DWI convictions than sober drivers.

Kearse already had one pending before that Saturday night. His license was gone. His record was building. And a commercial vehicle was still within reach.

The neighbors said it plainly: “Why on earth was he driving the bus?”

That is the question nobody has a good answer for.

Key Takeaways

• Crash happened around 12:40 a.m. on July 12, 2026, at Pace Street and Person Street in Raleigh’s Oakwood neighborhood
• Gary Fidell Kearse III, 58, was the only person on the bus at the time
• His April BAC was 0.23, nearly six times the commercial vehicle legal limit of 0.04
• License revoked June 9. Hit-and-run citation June 27. Party bus crash July 12.
• The 1920-built home at 215 Pace Street was declared unsafe for occupancy
• Kearse posted a $10,000 bond and is due back in court at month’s end
• No passengers on the bus. No fatalities reported.

What should happen when someone with a pending DWI, a revoked license, and a hit-and-run citation is still behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle? At what point does the system have to draw a hard line? Drop your take in the comments.

The house on Pace Street stood for over a century. It took one night, one bad decision, and three missed chances to stop it from getting to this point.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. All details are based on publicly available reports and court documents at the time of publication. Charges listed are allegations. The case is ongoing.