Texas teenager charged with 6 felony counts after ploughing bicyclists
A 16-year-old from Texas has been charged with six felony counts after hitting six bicyclists with his pickup truck whereas attempting to blow exhaust smoke in late September, authorities introduced Monday.
In a statement, the Waller County district lawyer’s workplace stated the teenager has been charged with six counts of felony aggravated assault with a lethal weapon — one cost for every bicycle owner that was injured on Sept. 25. The juvenile wasn’t arrested when police arrived on the scene, however the Waller Police Division informed USA TODAY in September that officers had been investigating.
“During the last six weeks this workplace has assigned its personal investigators to hunt out proof, and to interview the victims and witnesses,” the district lawyer’s assertion stated. “Earlier at this time the juvenile voluntarily surrendered himself, and was detained by representatives from the juvenile justice division the place he can be held in custody till additional orders of the juvenile court docket.”
The incident occurred close to Waller, Texas, as cyclists had been coaching for IRONMAN Texas, a long-distance triathlon, and had been 75 miles into their trip when a black diesel truck pulled up near them, Chase Ferrell, a bicycle owner within the group, informed FOX 26.
Ferrell stated the truck slowed, then accelerated to blow exhaust smoke on the cyclists. When the driving force tried to do the identical factor to cyclists forward of Ferrell, he struck them. 4 out of the six cyclists had been taken to the hospital, together with two by helicopter, in accordance with FOX 26.
Some have criticized and questioned why it took so lengthy for costs to be filed and why the teenager wasn’t instantly arrested. Final month, Waller Police Division’s police chief instantly addressed the criticism in a Facebook post on the division’s web page.
Associated:16-year-old in pickup truck tried to blow exhaust smoke on cyclists, then struck them, witness says
“It has been said that our company mishandled the preliminary investigation of the crash scene. That’s true,” Police Chief Invoice Llewellyn wrote. The deficiencies in dealing with the case had been “as a result of a lack of expertise on our half,” Llewellyn’s submit added.
The chief additionally defended his police drive and the trooper who responded to the scene, writing that “her help was drastically appreciated” and “instrumental” in documenting data.
District Legal professional Elton Mathis stated his workplace was investigating whether or not there was “prison interference” between police and the dad and mom of the driving force, as they’re a outstanding household that owns a number of companies within the space, The Washington Post reported.
Llewellyn denied that the police division was influenced by “any member of metropolis administration,” and wrote that he has by no means met any of the events concerned within the crash.
Contributing: Asha Gilbert, USA TODAY