(VitalNews.org) – A 17-year-old who brutally struck and killed a cyclist with his car should be tried as an adult, say prosecutors pursuing the case. The unnamed driver has been charged with murder after he drove his car into 64-year-old Andreas Probst while his passenger filmed the attack and laughed on August 14. In the footage, the driver can be heard asking the passenger if he is ready, before the passenger laughs and tells the driver to “hit his a**”. The sickening footage then shows the car speeding away after Probst has been knocked to the ground.
Probst’s daughter Taylor was alerted to her father’s injury when she received an alert via her smartwatch that her father had fallen while taking his usual early morning bicycle ride. She and her mother, Crystal, hurried to the scene just three miles away. By the time they got there, Andreas Probst had already been taken to hospital, where he would later die from his injuries. His daughter Taylor told reporters that she knew from the scene that the crash must have been severe, as she could see how far apart his bicycle, helmet, and phone had been scattered.
The driver of the 2016 Hyundai Elantra was arrested that day after footage of the incident was put onto social media. His alleged accomplice managed to evade authorities until Tuesday September 19, when he was also arrested. The second teen also faces a charge of murder. Shockingly, Probst was not the only alleged victim of the pair that day. Police say they also knocked down an unnamed 72-year-old male cyclist in the early hours of the same morning, as well as hitting another car and fleeing the scene.
Andreas Probst, who retired in 2009 after a 35-year-long career in California law enforcement, has been remembered fondly by his friends and family. His daughter described him as a “ray of sunshine” who brought joy to all those he knew, and his widow described him as an “amazing” man and husband.
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