Teen Faces A Murder Charge After An Egg Throwing Prank Causes Fatal Crash
What began as an alleged prank ended with lethal consequences on Tuesday, January 1. After throwing eggs at other motorists, a group of juveniles were chased by an irate motorist, eventually slamming into another vehicle and killing the driver.
The primary suspect was allegedly behind the wheel of a GMC Acadia SUV with two other juvenile passengers — throwing eggs at cars as they passed by — stated police in their reports. That suspect is a 14 year-old boy, one who is now facing murder charges, NBC News reports.
Authorities claim that the egg throwing prank resulted in a car chase that caused the death of a motorist. According to police, after being egged, one of the drivers of the cars being pranked allegedly flashed a semi-automatic handgun at the three young boys — and began to chase them. During this chase, the teens drove through a stop light, slamming into a Ford pickup truck. It was the female driver of this pickup truck who was killed during the car crash stated Ed Gonzales, the Harris County Sheriff, via his Twitter account. According to deputies, the driver of the tan 1970s Lincoln Continental with a white leather top — the man who allegedly flashed the handgun and chased the young boys — fled from the scene of the crash.
Update on Aldine Mail Rt. Fatality: the 14 yo driver has been charged w murder & booked in the county juvenile detention center. He sustained a broken ankle in the crash. The driver of the vehicle that was chasing him has been identified & efforts are being made to interview him.
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) January 2, 2019
According to Gonzalez, the young man has been arrested, charged with murder, and booked into the county juvenile detention center. The 14-year-old did sustain injuries to his ankle, breaking it during the crash. As for the deceased victim, Silvia Zavala, police state that she was “found with no signs of life at the scene by paramedics.” The sheriff went on to add that Zavala had zero fault in the accident that caused her death. According to reports, the 45-year-old woman had been out shopping. This was surmised by authorities, based on the various debris found at the scene of the crash. The police are currently making efforts to track down the individual whose car the young man egged, and who began to chase them before failing to stop at the scene of the crash.
“The driver of the vehicle that was chasing him has been identified & efforts are being made to interview him.”
At this time, the name of the 14-year-old juvenile has not been released to the public.
14-year-old boy charged with murder after ‘egg throwing’ incident causes fatal car crash https://t.co/s0eoZdvdFX
— The Independent (@Independent) January 2, 2019
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety lists the general statistics on fatal car crashes by state. Overall, the data shows that there were 34,439 fatal motor vehicle crashes in the United States in the year 2016, in which 37,461 deaths occurred. This results shows that there were 11.6 deaths per 100,000 people — and 1.16 deaths per 100 million miles traveled.
