Teenagers are notorious for making poor decisions. By neurological design, we don't start seriously considering the consequences of our decisions until sometime in our early to mid-20s. Unfortunately, sometimes these poor choices have tragic outcomes.
A 16-year-old boy is facing adult felony charges after a crash that killed two people. The crash happened shortly after he was pulled over in Eugene by an Oregon State Police trooper who had clocked him driving 105 mph in his family's Nissan. Although the teen pulled over initially, police reports say he sped off after the trooper got out of his car.
Police say the boy then ran a red light and broadsided a pickup truck. The 62-year-old driver and his passenger were ejected and later died. After colliding with the pickup, the Nissan hit a nearby Eugene police cruiser, police said. One of the two officers inside suffered minor injuries.
The boy, who doesn't have a driver's license, was not suspected of using alcohol or drugs before the incident. But he faces two counts of first-degree manslaughter and two counts of third-degree assault. Under state Measure 11, a conviction of first-degree manslaughter carries a minimum of 10 years in prison. Anyone age 15 or older is automatically prosecuted as an adult on serious charges with mandatory minimums.
At his arraignment Wednesday, the boy was allowed to speak with his father, who hugged him and kept his arm wrapped around him while speaking to him before the judge arrived. It's likely that the reality of the situation is still sinking in for both of them.
While it's impossible to know what was going through the boy's mind as the crash incident unfolded, it's quite possible he panicked as the arresting officer approached him. If he did speed away and run a red light, he didn't have much time to think it through beforehand. A conviction on a Measure 11 offense would mean spending his early adulthood in prison, where he'll have all too much time to regret a poor choice he made as a teenager.
Source: The Register-Guard, "Fleeing driver crashes, killing 2," Jack Moran, March 8, 2012
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