Lawsuit says Gaston County police officer caused wreck

A woman and her child allege in a lawsuit filed against Gaston County that an off-duty Gaston County Police Department officer critically injured the child in a wreck last year.

According to the lawsuit, Austin Reed Hildebrand was speeding east on Dallas Cherryville Highway near Cherryville on May 2, 2023, at approximately 11:06 p.m. when he veered into the westbound lane to avoid a car that had stopped to turn and collided head-on with Kelsey Cheyana Gibson, who was driving west.

Hildebrand, 28, who has worked at the police department since 2020, was charged with speeding and driving left of center, according to N.C. Highway Patrol. He was driving 67 mph in a 55 mph zone, N.C. Highway Patrol said.

Gibson suffered a traumatic brain injury, a loss of vision, nerve palsies and cranial nerve paralysis, and she had to have surgery that removed part of her skull, according to the lawsuit.

Hildebrand was driving a county vehicle, but he was not on duty at the time of the crash and was not responding to an emergency, the lawsuit said.

Hildebrand could not be reached for comment.

Gaston County declined to comment.

The lawsuit was filed June 24 against both Hildebrand and Gaston County by Chrystal Dawn Buchanan-Gibson, who was appointed as a guardian ad litem to represent her daughter, Kelsey Gibson.