After allegedly running over a man and leaving the scene on Old Catawba Road on Wednesday, Gracie Nicole White, 25, was charged with felony hit and run.

White, of Vale, was charged with felony hit and run with failure to stop for personal injury, after police say she killed Jimmie Robinson, 42, of Claremont.

Jimmie Robinson, 42, died after he was struck by a green passenger car while he was crossing Old Catawba Road in Claremont at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Highway Patrol telecommunicator Williams said.  The accident happened near the curve of Edna Street about one-tenth of a mile west of Catawba, he said, where Robinson died at the scene.

Robinson’s body was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem for autopsy.  His family was notified Wednesday morning shortly after the accident.

“I don’t understand why someone would do this,” said Robinson’s cousin Rose Flowers.

She said her cousin had been staying with her at her home on Shiloh Road in Claremont for the past two weeks.  Robinson was homeless, but relatives said he could usually find a family member or friend to stay with overnight.

“He did not deserve to die this way,” Flowers said.

The family is not sure what Robinson was doing off Old Catawba Road so early in the morning.

“I just want to know what happened,” Flowers said.

His family described him as someone that would always lend a hand to anyone in need.  They said he did a lot of odd jobs for neighbors like mowing lawns, raking leaves, and washing cars.  His cousins said it was clear he enjoyed helping people, despite his own situation without a home.

“He was one in a million,” his cousin Rev. Dale Gibson.

White is being held in the Catawba County Detention Center under $7,500 bond.  Her first appearance in District Court is Friday.