Over a month after a former UNCW student was cleared of a DWI charge for a fatal crash on I-40 near Wallace, WECT is reporting that she is suing several members of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP), NCSHP, and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety for the handling of the case.
In the lawsuit, Raylee Grieco alleges she has suffered "extreme and severe emotional distress, embarrassment, injury to moral character, loss of liberty interests, and injury to reputation" due to NCSHP's "libel, slander, malicious prosecution, and other wrongful actions."
Grieco claims in the lawsuit that on Feb. 18, 2024, she was approaching the intersection of I-40 and NC Highway 41 near Wallace when she saw a car stopped in the middle of the road in front of her.
"The car was stopped directly behind a pickup truck, owned by Mr. Velasquez, and a trailer, also owned by Mr. Velasquez. The truck, trailer, and car were all in the middle of the roadway," Grieco stated in the lawsuit.
According to Grieco, she attempted to swerve left but could not avoid a collision. Her car clipped the first car which collided with the trailer causing it to jackknife.
"Tragically, Mildo Velasquez, who was under the trailer at the time attempting to reconnect the trailer to his pickup truck, was killed in the collision," Grieco stated.
According to a press release sent to WECT by NCSHP around the time of the accident, Velasquez was on his feet next to his truck when Grieco hit the family's car.
"The car slammed into the truck and trailer, killing Velasquez while he was standing beside it," the press release stated.
According to the suit, Trooper Jamie Duff arrived on the scene and performed a roadside portable breath test (PBT) on Grieco.
"The PBT performed on Raylee revealed blood alcohol content of 0.00," the lawsuit alleged.
Grieco was taken to ECU Health Duplin County Hospital where a nurse examined her. The lawsuit claims the nurse wrote down how Grieco was "alert, with soft but clear speech, good eye contact, and speech not pressured."
The nurse determined not to perform blood work for impairing substances and administered NORCO, a strong pain medication, to Grieco.
Trooper Duff arrived at the hospital and, according to the lawsuit, was there to only charge Grieco with failure to reduce speed.
"Upon information and belief, nurse or nurse assistant commented to Defendant Duff that Raylee was "acting strangely." This nurse or nurse assistant was not Raylee's attending physician and was not Raylee's attending nurse practitioner. . . this nurse or nurse assistant's observations were made after Raylee had been administered the NORCO narcotic pain medication," the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit claims Trooper Duff lacked reasonable suspicion that Grieco was impaired but the comments caused him to ask an NCSHP Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) be assigned to the case.
NCSHP Trooper Devin Rich was assigned as the DRE expert and he, along with Grieco's parents, arrived at the hospital. Trooper Rich was there to perform DRE tests on Grieco. The lawsuit alleges he was made aware that she was administered with NORCO.
"Defendant Rich told Raylee's mother, Rochelle Grieco, that the hydrocodone narcotic pain medication would not impact his DRE tests, and more specifically, that the narcotic would not impact Raylee's eyes during the HGN eye test," the lawsuit alleges.
According to the lawsuit, Grieco allegedly had a concussion at the time which could have influenced the testing. She and her mother made Trooper Rich aware of that fact, but the lawsuit claims he brushed them off.
"Defendant Rich then told Raylee and her mother that Raylee's CT did not show she had a concussion, and therefore she did not have a concussion. This was false. In fact, the CT scan was not conclusive that Raylee did not have a concussion," Grieco alleges in the lawsuit. "Defendant Rich knew what he told Raylee and her mother was false. Telling Raylee and her mother that a CT scan was conclusive as to a diagnosis of concussion was false, in reckless disregard of the truth, and wrongfully induced Raylee to proceed with the DRE field tests."
Trooper Rich detained Grieco and conducted a DRE evaluation.
"He performed various tests on Raylee, including walking in a straight line, standing straight with her head back and closing her eyes, touching her nose with her eyes closed, and following pencil or pen with her eyes while Defendant Rich moved the object back and forth," the lawsuit alleges.
In the lawsuit, Grieco claims her performance was impacted by:
"Defendant Rich knew these factors impacted Raylee's performance," the lawsuit claims.
After the tests, the lawsuit claims Trooper Rich determined Grieco was impaired by marijuana.
"Given the circumstances under which his testing had been performed, Defendant Rich had absolutely no probable cause and no good faith basis to form this opinion or make this determination," the lawsuit alleges.
Trooper Rich also took a blood sample from Grieco to be tested, results that wouldn't be known until July.
"Defendant Rich falsely stated to nurses and other hospital staff working at Duplin County Hospital that his subjective field tests were definitive and that Raylee was in fact under the influence of THC, or marijuana. These statements were false and defamatory, and made with actual malice," the lawsuit alleges.
In July 2024, Grieco's bloodwork results confirmed there were no impairing substances in her system at the time of the crash.
A statement released by the NC District Attorney's office in January 2025 confirmed crime lab results showed no impairing substances in Grieco's system.
"Due to those results, the State did not have probable cause or sufficient evidence to proceed with the driving while impaired charge, and the driving while impaired offense was dismissed," the office said.
The DWI and Underage DWI charges were dismissed. Grieco pleaded responsible for one count of failure to reduce speed on Oct. 2, 2024. She was ordered to pay the costs of the court.
The lawsuit claims since being accused of DWI, Grieco has suffered from panic attacks, anxiety, and sleeplessness, all as a result of "Defendants' libel, slander, malicious prosecution, and other wrongful actions."
Jim Johnson, an attorney representing Grieco, said these mistakes made by NCSHP continue to impact her.
"We want Raylee to be compensated for what she's been through, because nobody can really understand the impact that this can have on somebody unless you've lived it. But we also very much want to make sure this doesn't happen to anybody else," Johnson said.
The lawsuit alleges the actions taken by NCSHP caused Grieco to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, lose friends, lose one year of her NCAA eligibility, and lose time at school.
Attorneys for Grieco have asked for a jury trial and want the defendants to provide monetary relief for "presumed damages, mental anguish, injury to reputation, injury to moral character, humiliation, embarrassment, severe emotional distress, medical and health expenses, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of educational opportunity, loss of liberty interests, medical expenses, loss of earnings and/or earnings capacity, and other actual out-of-pocket expenses."