Four Ohio teens are facing murder charges after allegedly tossing a sandbag from a highway overpass, killing a passenger in a vehicle in Toledo last week.
According to Toledo Police Department, Marquise Byrd was in the front passenger seat when a construction sandbag broke through the windshield last Tuesday night. The 22-year-old suffered blunt-force trauma to his head and neck, and later died as a result of his injuries.
Police said the male teens, ages 13 to 15 years old, were seen leaving the overpass following the deadly incident.
READ MORE: Michigan man killed by rock thrown from highway overpass, teens arrested
“Detectives determined the falling sandbag was not an accident, but a deliberate act and probable cause to charge the juveniles was established,” police said in a statement.
CBS News reported Byrd’s friend was driving the vehicle when the sandbag hit the vehicle and she pulled over to the side of the road to call 911.
“I don’t know what happened. My friend, I don’t know what happened, he’s not moving,” the woman said in the 911 call obtained by the news outlet. “Something hit my car and hit my friend. He is not moving.”
The emergency dispatcher asked the frantic driver if she knew what had hit Byrd.
“No, my windshield is smashed up,” the unidentified woman said. “He is laid out on my seat, I think the windshield might have smacked his head.”
The teens were initially charged with felonious assault, and murder charges were later added after Byrd succumbed to his injuries.
“There were statements made by these youths admitting that they were throwing rocks,” Lori Olender, deputy chief of the juvenile division in the county prosecutor’s office said. “The sandbag that we know was thrown did cause the death of the victim.”
READ MORE: Football-sized rock thrown from an overpass almost kills driver
According to Toledo newspaper The Blade, the four teens appeared in court Wednesday to enter a denial to the charges of murder and vehicular vandalism. An attorney representing one of the boys charged said her client understands the seriousness of the charges against him.
“My client just wanted to express his remorse for the victim and his family,” Denise Stollings told the court.
According to the newspaper, the prosecutor’s office said the vehicular vandalism charge was added against the boys after rocks struck a second vehicle.
— with a file from Reuters
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