After fatal DUI moped collision, USC pulls in grieving family

Gamecocks are mourning this week after a former student was arrested and charged with killing another in a DUI crash.

On Tuesday, former University of South Carolina student Charles Davenport, 24, was formally charged with fatal DUI involving death. Prosecutors say Davenport was driving drunk when he struck and killed 22-year-old David Newell, who was riding his moped down Rosewood Drive, on his way home from taking an exam.

Davenport had enrolled at USC this semester, but had left school before Wednesday’s fatal collision.

“High risk behavior has resulted in the tragic death of one Gamecock and a life-altering scenario for another,” USC President Harris Pastides said in a statement to the campus. “Two families are irrevocably changed.”

Newell was not the only Gamecock in the family. Both of his sisters attended the college before him, even though the Newells live in Maryland. His mother Annette Newell said each of her children was attracted to USC because of the sense of community they found in Columbia.

“I sent three children to the University of South Carolina, but I’m only getting two back,” she said.

Still, Annette Newell said the family is “very fortunate” to receive as much support as they have from their son’s friends in Columbia.

“Everyone here has been reaching out,” she said.

Newell’s roommate and fraternity brother Shane Scully attended a bond hearing for Davenport on Tuesday, alongside other members of the family.

Newell’s longtime girlfriend Rachael Thomas traveled to Columbia from Maryland after learning he’d been injured, and found a welcomig community among the members of his Chi Psi fraternity.

“I stay at their house,” she said. “They treat me just like a sister.”

Brady Newell, David’s sister and a USC alumna, said “the community drew us in and the love was overwhelming.”

“But that doesn’t surprise us,” she said. “We’re all Gamecocks.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 3:06 PM with the headline "After fatal DUI moped collision, USC pulls in grieving family."