Deadly hit-and-run in New Mexico brings juvenile justice challenges into focus
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Behind the wheel of the stolen car was a 12-year-old boy.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Behind the wheel of the stolen car was a 12-year-old boy. In the front passenger seat was a boy who just days earlier had marked his 11th birthday. He was waving a handgun as a 15-year-old boy in the backseat recorded video of what police described as a deliberate hit-and-run.
A voice believed to be the 15-year-old’s says, “Just bump him, brah.” The driver asks, “Like bump him?” The rear passenger responds, “Yeah, just bump him. Go like … 15 … 20.”
The car smashed into a bicyclist on his way to work. The windshield shattered and the car sped away in the predawn hours that May morning.
Months passed with no arrests. Then in February a video of the deadly crash surfaced on social media. Remarkably it led police back to an 11-year-old who last June was arrested and placed in custody for a series of break-ins and burglaries in northeast Albuquerque. Police also accused the boy of shooting and wounding another teen, which prompted an investigation that turned up firearms and a bullet-proof vest that had been stolen from a police vehicle.
But the allegations of running down and killing a person were on another level, one seldom dealt with in New Mexico’s juvenile justice system.
Rating: 5