Police in New Mexico said the 13-year-old boy was carrying murder, detained an 11-year-old boy, video recorded from a stolen car, and were searching for the 15-year-old boy in connection with the fatal blow of a bicycle that circulated on social media.
Albuquerque police said both the 13 and 15 were charged with an open count of murder and a conspiracy to murder.
Authorities say the driver of the car that killed 63-year-old physicist Scott Dwight Harbormel, authorities fatally struck around 4:40am on May 29, 2024.
Teen drivers are intentionally hit and appear to kill a retired police chief on viral video
On February 2, 2024, two teenagers were charged with the death of a bicycle at the headquarters of the Albuquerque Police Station in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Brian, File)
The 15- and 11-year-old boys who are too young to be charged with murder are believed to have been passengers in the car, police said.
“The boys videotaped the crash from inside the vehicle as the driver crashed from the southbound lane of Moon Street towards a dedicated bike lane, attacking Harbormel,” a police statement on Monday said. The children in the car saw the flashing light on the bike and showed that the sound of the recording was hitting the bike. ”
The crash video was recorded from inside the car and was circulated on social media. The detective received hints that the video was posted on social media. The middle school principal also reported to police at a public school in Albuquerque that the student reported the same crash video.
The recordings have heard that the voice believed to be a 13-year-old driver said he was trying to attack the bike before accelerating the car, authorities said. I've heard he says, “Just slam him and bumping into him rudely.”
Teen bragging, he will get a “slap on the wrist” to kill the former police chief on hit and run
“Shock him?” the driver asks.
“Yeah, just hit him. …I'll go like 15…20,” another passenger said.
“There was a loud noise including metal flexion as the momentum of the collision was carried by Harbormel and his bike to the passenger side of the vehicle,” police said.
The 11-year-old, allegedly waving a handgun during the crime, is placed under the control of the state's children, youth and family department and will be evaluated. According to law enforcement, in just over a week of the fatal crash, police arrested him on an unrelated felony warrant.
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According to a police statement, detectives will work with prosecutors and state social workers to “determine the accusations he may face and whether he can be detained by those accusations.”
The incident mirrors a similar hit and run in Las Vegas, where a teenage suspect killed a retired police chief who was riding a bike while laughing.
