A mother is sharing memories of her son, who died in a crash that also nearly killed two police officers, weeks ago.
Brian Battle, 29, was hit by an RV on an interstate ramp. He was on the job, carrying automobiles, when he sensed something was wrong.
On August 22, police were summoned to Interstate 485 and Mount Holly Road to investigate a stolen vehicle. The battle was the one to report the vehicle.
“If you saw Brian, it made you want to be a better person,” Battle’s mother, Chiquita Battle-Grant, told Channel 9’s Glenn Counts.
That act of exemplary citizenship cost Battle his life. On Wednesday, Counts spoke with his mother by phone from Nash County.
“The way it happened is devastating to me,” she told me. “He was just chatting with the cops when an RV appeared out of nowhere. The manner he died hurts.”
According to police, Battle was hit and killed by the driver of the RV while standing outside talking to officers. The RV also struck a police car, wounding two cops.
The officers have since been released from the hospital. Battle’s mother is relieved they are safe.
“That was Brian,” she explained. “He loved hard, deeply, and just tried to live his life with a purpose.”
Battle-Grant described her son as consistently honest, genuinely religious, and a dedicated father to his three-year-old kid.
“He enjoyed reading the Quran. “He studied it,” she explained. “His devotion to prayer, fasting, eating right, giving back to the community.”
Battle was a truck driver that hauled autos all over the country. He developed a passion for the road when he was very young.
“My father and another uncle owned trucks. “So Brian had two uncles at the age of five,” Battle-Grant explained. “He used to drive and ride with them across the United States when he was younger. “He adored the big trucks.”
Police are still investigating the situation. The driver of the RV was not charged.
“I don’t know the law well enough, but I don’t understand because, to me, I just don’t understand that part,” explained Battle-Grant.
There is no news on how much longer the probe will take. Channel 9 investigated the driver’s background and discovered he has a clean record.