Saber Benson, a 26-year-old employee of The Loop, has died from injuries he sustained when his moped crashed on campus Saturday night.
Benson was hospitalized after he collided with the iron gates at 11:45 p.m. on Union Drive off Towerview Drive.
Loop Owner Dennis Lane had known Benson since Benson was five years old. He was also Benson’s football coach for four years at East Chapel Hill High School where Benson played defensive and offensive line. Benson went on to play football at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C, but was injured and transferred to North Carolina State University, Lane said.
“It’s part of life—you’re going to have friends pass away, but you never can prepare for it, especially when they’re 26,” Lane said. “It seems like a week ago he was playing football for me.”
Benson was not responsive when Isaac Hatcher, Benson’s roommate who worked with him at The Loop, visited him in the hospital. Benson was taken off life support Monday, though it is unclear exactly when.
“I guess they could have kept him alive as a vegetable, but that just wasn’t the kind of guy he was,” said Hatcher, who had known Benson since the two were in kindergarten. “If they’d done that, he would have gotten a gun and shot himself—or wanted to, anyway.”
The Duke University Police Department is investigating whether Benson was trying to maneuver through the gates as they were closing when his moped collided into them. Alcohol was also found on the scene.
DUPD Chief John Dailey said DUPD has asked the Durham Police Department to handle the investigation of the accident scene.
A Durham traffic services investigator highly trained in fatal and serious accident scenes will lead the crash investigation, said Kammie Michael, public information officer for the Durham Police Department. The investigator will also follow up on autopsy and toxicology reports to determine whether alcohol was involved, she said.
Benson’s Loop co-workers described him as an outgoing, hands-on guy who loved to laugh.
Nate Uhlenberg, a Loop employee who had known Benson since the sixth grade, said Benson’s accident and death have been very difficult for many of his co-workers and his extensive group of friends. Uhlenberg said Benson spent a lot of time with his Loop co-workers outside of work and was close to several employees who were former classmates and teammates.
“It’s been kind of hard for a bunch of us,” Uhlenberg said. “When it happened, they called me, they didn’t know how to get in touch with his family, so I had to call his family. When I was walking to work, I almost broke down walking by that gate. I never want to see it again.”
Uhlenberg and Lane remembered Benson as a risk-taker. In high school, Benson “was a little bit of a daredevil,” and would often challenge players much bigger than himself, Lane said.
Uhlenberg said Benson was also involved in serious car and motorcycle accidents throughout his lifetime.
“He was not afraid of anything,” Uhlenberg said. “He tried so many things and survived all of them. It’s ironic that something like this could stop him.”
Sunday night, Lane sat in The Loop with several of Benson’s former teammates to tell stories about their friend.Lane and Benson’s family also hope to continue to keep his memory alive in a concrete way.
Benson’s family is creating a memorial scholarship in his name at his former high school, Lane said. Lane plans to request permission from the University to raise funds for the scholarship at The Loop from employees and customers who wish to donate.
“He was a good guy, and the world is not a better place for sure. It lost somebody that was special,” Lane said.
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