A widowed mother is asking for help from her Triangle neighbors to navigate the new reality of raising two young children alone.
Allison Simpson was following her husband – he on his bike and she on hers, pulling their children in a trailer – when she saw him hit as he crossed Guess Road.
Other WRAL Top Stories
"I’m just in such grief right now that I don’t even know how to make sense of it," she said.
Matthew Simpson, 40, was doing everything right. He stopped to push the button, making sure it was safe to cross. He was wearing a helmet.
"He was protecting his family like he always did," his sister-in-law told WRAL News.
Yet the unthinkable happened.
"He was flung so far down the road I had to make a decision of, like, leave my kids alone and run to him, which I did," Allison Simpson said.
Matt Simpson, 40, was hit on July 10 and died of his injuries days later at a Durham hospital. Police are searching for the man who hit him.
"He went right through a red light, in the rain and struck a cyclist," Durham police Cpl. Daniel Strandh said.
Omari Newsome, 33, faces charges of felony hit-and-run with serious injuries, felony conspiracy, driving while license suspended, failure to reduce speed and failure to stop at a steady red light.
"He left the guy laying in the road, in front of his family," said Strandh, the lead investigator on the case and one of the officers who responded after the crash.
While she deals with the loss of the man she had loved for 17 years, whom she called her best friend, Allison Simpson is trying to be strong for her son, 4, and daughter, 1.
"I think it’s important that the person who did this is caught, and I think it’s important that families feel like they can go out and do things together and feel safe," she told WRAL News through tears.
Allison and Matt Simpson met in Washington, D.C. "We just connected in a very sweet way," she said.
The family moved to Durham eight years ago, right after they married. He was a software engineer; she is a clinical social worker.
"He loved our kids so much," she said. "He just supported anything they were drawn to."
The family bike ride to Durham's Museum of Life and Science was one they had made before. Matt towed the kids in the trailer to the museum, and Allison would pull it home.
While she waited by her husband's bedside, she told him, "We built a really, really wonderful life together over these years." Although Matt Simpson never regained consciousness, his wife believes he knew she was there.
Now, at home, she is trying to rebuild that life without her partner.
"We had a lot of routines that both of us were involved in that we are going to have to figure out," she said. "It’s going to be a long, long, long haul of trying to navigate this."
One of her main jobs, she said, is to make sure her son and daughter retain memories of their father.
"I want them to always know their dad," she said. "And I tell them now: 'Dada is part of you and he will always be part of you' to let them know how much he loved them."
She's also working with police to help track Newsome.
"I think Matt had a strong sense of justice, and I want to honor that," she said.
Strandh said he believes Newsome is "local somewhere," and he asked for help from the public.
"If anybody happens to locate him or find him or see him out in public, call 911," he said.
Anyone with information that can help to find Newsome can also call Durham Crime Stoppers hotline at 919-683-1200.
Bike Durham will hold a memorial gathering and ride of silence for Matt Simpson on Sunday, July 24, at 11 a.m. at Westover Park near the intersection where the West Ellerbee Creek Trail crosses Guess Road.