ctrlraven
07-30-2008, 06:07 AM
Original story thread
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=41831
New updates:
http://wbal.com/apps/news/templates/news.aspx?articleid=10272&zoneid=3
Pair Indicted In Md Street Racing Deaths
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
WBAL Radio as reported by Scott Wykoff and Associated Pres
Two men have been indicted in the deaths of eight people who had gathered to watch an illegal street race in Maryland.
Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey says 20-year-old Darren Bullock and 18-year-old Tavon Taylor were charged Tuesday with eight counts of vehicular manslaughter. They were also charged with reckless driving and street racing in the February crash.
"It's too dangerous to have this going on in our streets," said Ivey to WBAL's Scott Wykoff as he described it as a significant indictment.
"Street racing is something that apparently had been going on here for a while," Ivey tells WBAL's Scott Wykoff. "But I really think this put the spotlight on it and I think we're going to have to take an additional look at ways to address it."
Authorities say Bullock plowed into a group of street racing fans along an isolated stretch of road while he and Taylor were racing in the early morning darkness.
The fans had spilled into the road to watch two other cars race off when they were hit from behind.
Prosecutors say Bullock and Taylor weren't part of the organized event the fans were watching.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content//article/2008/07/29/AR2008072901505.html
Driver Who Hit Crowd, Killing 8, Is Charged
2 Waldorf Men Now Believed Involved in 2nd Street Race
By Ruben Castaneda and Avis Thomas-Lester (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/ruben+castaneda+and+avis+thoma s-lester/)
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 30, 2008; Page A01
In a dramatic new account of a deadly accident that killed eight people in February, the driver of the car that plowed into a crowd watching an illegal street race was charged with vehicular manslaughter yesterday as authorities said for the first time that he was involved in a separate race on the dark rural highway in Prince George's County (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Prince+George%27s+County?tid=i nformline).
A grand jury indicted Darren Jamar Bullock (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Darren+Jamar+Bullock?tid=infor mline), 21, and another driver, Tavon Taylor, 18, both of Waldorf, on eight counts each of vehicular manslaughter as well as for two additional offenses, reckless driving and engaging in a speed contest.
Bullock had told family members he was driving the speed limit about 3 a.m. Feb. 16 when he came upon the crowd standing in the middle of Indian Head Highway in Accokeek. But at a news conference yesterday, State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Glenn+Ivey?tid=informline) said surveillance photos and witness accounts led police to conclude that Bullock was racing; Ivey (D) declined to say whether police think Taylor also crashed into spectators.
A surveillance camera at a nearby factory caught Bullock and Taylor driving with their headlights off a quarter-mile from the crash site, said a source close to the investigation. "They're caught on camera at 110 miles per hour," said the source, who spoke anonymously because the investigation is ongoing. By comparing images of the cars to fixed objects, such as light poles, investigators calculated the speed of the vehicles, the source said.
The crash made national headlines and drew attention to the secretive world of illegal street racing, a subculture that has thrived for decades in parts of the Washington region, including Prince George's and Charles counties.
The accident occurred as Bullock's white Ford Crown Victoria (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Ford+Crown+Victoria?tid=inform line) sedan crashed into spectators who had just moved on the roadway to watch two other cars race away. At the time, many witnesses suggested that Bullock was speeding and that an additional car was involved, but police had no conclusive evidence to bear that out.
Family members of those killed or injured in the crash said they are glad to see someone held accountable for the carnage.
"I just wanted the truth to come out," said Canice Jones-Proctor of Waldorf, whose son, Gregory Johnson Jr., was the youngest of the six people injured that morning. "I knew when the accident happened there was more to it than was coming out. I just wanted the truth to be told."
Proctor said her family knows relatives of Bullock's and Taylor's.
Taylor was arrested about 4:20 p.m. yesterday at his home in Waldorf. With his head down, wearing a white dress shirt, he was led out of the rowhouse in the 2700 block of Red Lion Place by four Charles sheriff's deputies. A deputy drove him away in an unmarked Ford Expedition (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Ford+Expedition?tid=informline ).
Tish Cave, who said she was Taylor's cousin, said in a phone interview that Taylor was a good student and had planned to enroll in a local community college in the fall. She said he had an interest in cars but characterized this as nothing unusual for his age.
"What teenager isn't into having the wheels, the bling-bling and the music, boom-boom?" Cave said. "Every teenager is into it. He's a typical teenager."
James Michael Walls, Bullock's uncle who raised him from childhood, said his nephew continues to say he did nothing wrong. Walls said Bullock, a father of three young children, was offered a chance to testify before the grand jury yesterday and declined. Walls said Bullock declined because he already told his story to police.
Walls said Bullock told him he was not speeding or racing and had his lights on. "That's what I'm getting from him," Walls said. "If it comes out that he was drag racing, then he was drag racing. I mean, I would be totally surprised and floored."
Bullock has run afoul of the law before. On March 27, a District Court judge in Charles sentenced Bullock to 32 hours of community service to resolve an earlier charge of driving with a suspended license. On May 25, he was charged in Charles with unauthorized removal of property and released on a $3,000 bond. That case is pending.
On the morning of the crash, Bullock was driving his 1999 Crown Victoria, and Taylor was behind the wheel of a Mercury Marquis, the source said. Bullock told his uncle that he saw the silhouettes of dozens of spectators on the road and slammed on his brakes. The car smashed into the crowd.
"He doesn't remember seeing smoke" from the other racing cars, Walls said two days after the crash. "All he remembers was coming into a crowd of people."
Bullock walked away from his crumpled car with a bruised lip, and his older brother, who was in the passenger seat, was not seriously injured, Walls said.
Ivey declined to say whether police had identified the two drivers in the race the spectators had gathered to watch.
During the news conference, Ivey spoke of the perils posed by illegal street racing.
"I think there's certainly an enormous attachment to street racing in Southern Maryland that I hadn't realized was there," Ivey said at his afternoon news conference. "I do think it's a major problem. It's clear people need to understand how dangerous this activity can be."
According to law enforcement sources and fans of street races, there is no schedule for such contests. Whenever a driver calls for a race, news spreads quickly throughout the tightknit racing community.
Street racers and fans communicate using cellphones, e-mail and text messages.
Fans, sometimes by the hundreds, gather on an isolated highway for the races. The races provide thrills, bragging rights and sometimes the chance to win thousands of dollars, say those familiar with the pastime. But the races also frighten neighbors, and police say it is difficult to stamp out competitions because the locations shift. "What starts off as an innocent, harmless speed contest all too often ends up with someone injured or killed," said Vernon Herron (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Vernon+Herron?tid=informline), Prince George's public safety director.
Yesterday's indictments brought closure for some relatives.
"It's not going to bring my son back, but it means that justice will be done for him," said Ervin Gardner Sr. of Kinston, N.C., whose 39-year-old son was killed. "I remember after it happened how the police defended the driver. They went out of their way to talk about how it had been an accident and how he was innocent. They wouldn't even give me his name, even though all I wanted it for was to try to find out what happened to my son."
Besides Ervin Gardner Jr. of Oxon Hill, the others killed in the crash were Otis Williams, 35, of Indian Head; Mark Courtney (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Mark+Courtney?tid=informline), 33, of Leonardtown; Daryl Wills, 38, of Clinton; Maycol Lopez, 20, of Gaithersburg; Blaine Briscoe, 49, of La Plata; William Gaines, 61, of Nanjemoy; and Milton Pinkney, 41, of La Plata.
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=41831
New updates:
http://wbal.com/apps/news/templates/news.aspx?articleid=10272&zoneid=3
Pair Indicted In Md Street Racing Deaths
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
WBAL Radio as reported by Scott Wykoff and Associated Pres
Two men have been indicted in the deaths of eight people who had gathered to watch an illegal street race in Maryland.
Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey says 20-year-old Darren Bullock and 18-year-old Tavon Taylor were charged Tuesday with eight counts of vehicular manslaughter. They were also charged with reckless driving and street racing in the February crash.
"It's too dangerous to have this going on in our streets," said Ivey to WBAL's Scott Wykoff as he described it as a significant indictment.
"Street racing is something that apparently had been going on here for a while," Ivey tells WBAL's Scott Wykoff. "But I really think this put the spotlight on it and I think we're going to have to take an additional look at ways to address it."
Authorities say Bullock plowed into a group of street racing fans along an isolated stretch of road while he and Taylor were racing in the early morning darkness.
The fans had spilled into the road to watch two other cars race off when they were hit from behind.
Prosecutors say Bullock and Taylor weren't part of the organized event the fans were watching.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content//article/2008/07/29/AR2008072901505.html
Driver Who Hit Crowd, Killing 8, Is Charged
2 Waldorf Men Now Believed Involved in 2nd Street Race
By Ruben Castaneda and Avis Thomas-Lester (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/ruben+castaneda+and+avis+thoma s-lester/)
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 30, 2008; Page A01
In a dramatic new account of a deadly accident that killed eight people in February, the driver of the car that plowed into a crowd watching an illegal street race was charged with vehicular manslaughter yesterday as authorities said for the first time that he was involved in a separate race on the dark rural highway in Prince George's County (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Prince+George%27s+County?tid=i nformline).
A grand jury indicted Darren Jamar Bullock (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Darren+Jamar+Bullock?tid=infor mline), 21, and another driver, Tavon Taylor, 18, both of Waldorf, on eight counts each of vehicular manslaughter as well as for two additional offenses, reckless driving and engaging in a speed contest.
Bullock had told family members he was driving the speed limit about 3 a.m. Feb. 16 when he came upon the crowd standing in the middle of Indian Head Highway in Accokeek. But at a news conference yesterday, State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Glenn+Ivey?tid=informline) said surveillance photos and witness accounts led police to conclude that Bullock was racing; Ivey (D) declined to say whether police think Taylor also crashed into spectators.
A surveillance camera at a nearby factory caught Bullock and Taylor driving with their headlights off a quarter-mile from the crash site, said a source close to the investigation. "They're caught on camera at 110 miles per hour," said the source, who spoke anonymously because the investigation is ongoing. By comparing images of the cars to fixed objects, such as light poles, investigators calculated the speed of the vehicles, the source said.
The crash made national headlines and drew attention to the secretive world of illegal street racing, a subculture that has thrived for decades in parts of the Washington region, including Prince George's and Charles counties.
The accident occurred as Bullock's white Ford Crown Victoria (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Ford+Crown+Victoria?tid=inform line) sedan crashed into spectators who had just moved on the roadway to watch two other cars race away. At the time, many witnesses suggested that Bullock was speeding and that an additional car was involved, but police had no conclusive evidence to bear that out.
Family members of those killed or injured in the crash said they are glad to see someone held accountable for the carnage.
"I just wanted the truth to come out," said Canice Jones-Proctor of Waldorf, whose son, Gregory Johnson Jr., was the youngest of the six people injured that morning. "I knew when the accident happened there was more to it than was coming out. I just wanted the truth to be told."
Proctor said her family knows relatives of Bullock's and Taylor's.
Taylor was arrested about 4:20 p.m. yesterday at his home in Waldorf. With his head down, wearing a white dress shirt, he was led out of the rowhouse in the 2700 block of Red Lion Place by four Charles sheriff's deputies. A deputy drove him away in an unmarked Ford Expedition (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Ford+Expedition?tid=informline ).
Tish Cave, who said she was Taylor's cousin, said in a phone interview that Taylor was a good student and had planned to enroll in a local community college in the fall. She said he had an interest in cars but characterized this as nothing unusual for his age.
"What teenager isn't into having the wheels, the bling-bling and the music, boom-boom?" Cave said. "Every teenager is into it. He's a typical teenager."
James Michael Walls, Bullock's uncle who raised him from childhood, said his nephew continues to say he did nothing wrong. Walls said Bullock, a father of three young children, was offered a chance to testify before the grand jury yesterday and declined. Walls said Bullock declined because he already told his story to police.
Walls said Bullock told him he was not speeding or racing and had his lights on. "That's what I'm getting from him," Walls said. "If it comes out that he was drag racing, then he was drag racing. I mean, I would be totally surprised and floored."
Bullock has run afoul of the law before. On March 27, a District Court judge in Charles sentenced Bullock to 32 hours of community service to resolve an earlier charge of driving with a suspended license. On May 25, he was charged in Charles with unauthorized removal of property and released on a $3,000 bond. That case is pending.
On the morning of the crash, Bullock was driving his 1999 Crown Victoria, and Taylor was behind the wheel of a Mercury Marquis, the source said. Bullock told his uncle that he saw the silhouettes of dozens of spectators on the road and slammed on his brakes. The car smashed into the crowd.
"He doesn't remember seeing smoke" from the other racing cars, Walls said two days after the crash. "All he remembers was coming into a crowd of people."
Bullock walked away from his crumpled car with a bruised lip, and his older brother, who was in the passenger seat, was not seriously injured, Walls said.
Ivey declined to say whether police had identified the two drivers in the race the spectators had gathered to watch.
During the news conference, Ivey spoke of the perils posed by illegal street racing.
"I think there's certainly an enormous attachment to street racing in Southern Maryland that I hadn't realized was there," Ivey said at his afternoon news conference. "I do think it's a major problem. It's clear people need to understand how dangerous this activity can be."
According to law enforcement sources and fans of street races, there is no schedule for such contests. Whenever a driver calls for a race, news spreads quickly throughout the tightknit racing community.
Street racers and fans communicate using cellphones, e-mail and text messages.
Fans, sometimes by the hundreds, gather on an isolated highway for the races. The races provide thrills, bragging rights and sometimes the chance to win thousands of dollars, say those familiar with the pastime. But the races also frighten neighbors, and police say it is difficult to stamp out competitions because the locations shift. "What starts off as an innocent, harmless speed contest all too often ends up with someone injured or killed," said Vernon Herron (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Vernon+Herron?tid=informline), Prince George's public safety director.
Yesterday's indictments brought closure for some relatives.
"It's not going to bring my son back, but it means that justice will be done for him," said Ervin Gardner Sr. of Kinston, N.C., whose 39-year-old son was killed. "I remember after it happened how the police defended the driver. They went out of their way to talk about how it had been an accident and how he was innocent. They wouldn't even give me his name, even though all I wanted it for was to try to find out what happened to my son."
Besides Ervin Gardner Jr. of Oxon Hill, the others killed in the crash were Otis Williams, 35, of Indian Head; Mark Courtney (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Mark+Courtney?tid=informline), 33, of Leonardtown; Daryl Wills, 38, of Clinton; Maycol Lopez, 20, of Gaithersburg; Blaine Briscoe, 49, of La Plata; William Gaines, 61, of Nanjemoy; and Milton Pinkney, 41, of La Plata.