U.S. Rep. Manning and staffer injured in car crash 

U.S. Representative Kathy Manning (D-6th) of Greensboro and a staff member were injured in a car crash Thursday while en route to a meeting on gun violence prevention in High Point.

According to a press release, the Congresswoman and a staff member were treated and released from a local hospital for injuries that were not considered life-threatening. The staff member was not named. 

Manning’s staff members at the meeting said it would be rescheduled but the details are not yet available.

In an interview after the meeting was canceled, Police Chief Travis Stroud says there’s been a 5% drop this year in High Point’s impact crimes compared to the same period last year. Those offenses include personal crimes like murder and robbery and property violations such as burglaries and car thefts.

But with more than 30 vacancies in the department, he says his agency needs help. He plans to ask Manning for assistance in dealing with issues like homelessness and mental health.

“While neither one of those two things are criminal violations of the law, they take a lot of our time and a lot of our resources on an everyday basis," he says. "And when you're removing those resources from the street to deal with those two things, we don't have those people available to deal with the true crime issues.” 

Gretta Bush chairs the board of High Point Community Against Violence, which has served as a liaison between the police and residents for more than 25 years.

She says federal leaders like Manning should be part of the crime discussion.

“It's not just one community's problem, or one ethnic group," she says. "It’s everybody's situation. And I think a lot of people have never looked at it that way. ‘If I live in a certain state, if I live in a certain zip code, it's not my problem.’ But it is because it comes home to roost.”