GUILTY MD - Eight dead, 8 injured as car plows into street racing crowd, 16 Feb 2008

[SeekingJana]

I have a feeling this may have had its roots in a gang activity or gangs plural.

What grossed me out more than the body bags was the blood covering the roof of the Crown Vic.

 

[Hope4Lost]

This is so sad. I'm sad for the families of those who died and I'm sad for the driver that hit them. He was an innocent person and now he has this heavy burden. May the Lord give peace to them all.

 

[sleuthin4fun]

"There were just bodies everywhere; it was horrible," said Crystal Gaines, 27, of Indian Head.
Gaines grabbed her child but could not help her father, William Gaines Sr., 61, when she saw the Crown Victoria approach. Her father was killed in the crash.
"He wasn't breathing, he wasn't moving," Gaines said. "His body was in pieces."

Ok, I am not trying to be insensitive but, what in the worlds is this women thinking taking her child to an illegal street race at 3:40am. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree seeing as she was there with her own father. God Bless all those who lost loved ones at this event!

 

[SuziQ]

I thought the same thing. Way back when, I used to go to illegal street races. I only recall people between the ages of 16-25 being at them. I think seeing kids there would have been a big no no. I left early one night and the next day I found out there was a motorcycle fatality. I never went to another one. I must have still had the racing in me, years later I married a real racecar driver.

 

[luthersmama]

There is a Washington Post article today that says that there is a whole big illegal street racing circuit in Prince George's County. I would link but you have to be registered. Maybe somebody knows how to get around that?


Anyway, hundreds of people get word that there is going to be a race. They all go to the site and have lookouts posted strategically for miles around to spot the police. The race happens, the crowd disperses and its all over before the police can possibly get there.

I had no idea.

 

[luthersmama]

And from the Baltimore Sun:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.crash17feb17,0,6128235.story



Just a normal night of illegal racing gone bad.....

 

[ttrachel04]

do you think the drag racers can be charged with vehicular manslaughter, or something to that effect?

 

[SuziQ]

Anyway, hundreds of people get word that there is going to be a race. They all go to the site and have lookouts posted strategically for miles around to spot the police. The race happens, the crowd disperses and its all over before the police can possibly get there. I had no idea.

That's exactly how it goes down. I would imagine with todays technology, cell phones, police scanners, etc. that it's easy to skirt LE. It's a big problem everywhere. I was from So.Cal. and now live in rural Utah. I can hear the ramped up cars go past my neighborhood to what is called "the back road".

 

[SuziQ]

do you think the drag racers can be charged with vehicular manslaughter, or something to that effect?

Yes and hopefully the organizers too. Just being being a spectator at a street race can net a pretty severe fine. Way back when it was 1000.00.

 

[SuziQ]

The below link is to the Washington post article that Luthersmama mentioned. For copyright reasons I won't post the whole thing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...1602549.html?nav=hcmodule&sid=ST2008021602560

(snips)
On an isolated highway on the chosen night, fans gather, sometimes hundreds of them. The two drivers exchange "smack talk" and decide what defines a win, said a source who works with many participants but doesn't want his name connected to the illegal pastime.
The street races provide a thrill, bragging rights, and occasionally the chance to win thousands of dollars, according to those familiar with the pastime. They also frighten neighbors -- but police say they find it difficult to stamp out competitions with shifting locations known only to a secretive group of people.
***
"This is one of the biggest pastimes out here -- race cars," said Donnell Myers, 57, who lives in a ranch house near the highway and occasionally watches the races. "What happened last night is what everyone was afraid could happen, but at a much larger scale."
***
Even if racers are caught in the act, the source said, the most serious charge often would be reckless driving.
***
He said racing clubs monitor for police cars to protect their racers. "It's pretty sophisticated," Montminy said. "They have lookouts, and they know we're coming for miles."

 

[MCDRAW]

do you think the drag racers can be charged with vehicular manslaughter, or something to that effect?

I know they shouldn't have been drag racing but shouldn't the people watching know that they shouldn't get in the middle of th road to watch?

 

[OkieGranny]

From March 2010:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/02/AR2010030203974.html

The driver who admitted participating in an illegal street race that killed eight people a little more than two years ago in Accokeek was sentenced by a Prince George's County judge to 15 years in prison Tuesday.

Speaking publicly for the first time since he pleaded guilty to eight counts of vehicular manslaughter in January, Darren J. Bullock read a brief statement before the sentence was imposed...

Bullock, in a white Ford Crown Victoria, was racing Tavon Taylor, who was in a green Mercury Marquis. Bullock's car was faster, and it was he who smashed into a group of people who had wandered onto the road after watching the start of a separate illegal street race, prosecutors said.

Really good feature article, from June 2015:

http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2015/6/4/8694199/accokeek-street-racing-disaster

For four weeks, everything is an argument, until March 1, 2010, when the defense has rested and the state has rested and everyone’s waiting for a verdict... After 15 hours of deliberation, they return a verdict. Tavon is guilty of reckless driving and engaging in a speed contest, they say. But on the eight counts of manslaughter, one for each person who died that night, nine jurors favor conviction, three don’t. Mistrial.

The state’s attorneys, Ivey and Adams, make big statements that afternoon, saying they’ll re-try the case vigorously again that fall, but they know that won’t happen. They can’t re-create a case like this. They can’t re-create tears from some witnesses or catching others in a lie. They can’t spend another month in court. They can’t put people through that. They know they’ll never get a full conviction.

The jury’s message is this: Tavon was racing Darren that night, but he didn’t hit anybody and probably isn’t guilty of killing anyone. He won because he lost the race.