2 Killed, 23 Injured in Car Crash at SXSW

[Octoberist]

This is awful. What could've been a fun night at South By South West ended up tragically:

AUSTIN — Two people were killed and 23 more were injured after a car drove through SXSW festival barricades and struck a crowd of pedestrians early Thursday morning, police said.

At a press conference held in front of the crime scene, Austin Chief of Police Art Acevedo said that the two deceased victims, an adult male and an adult female who had been riding a moped that was struck by the vehicle, were confirmed dead at the scene in downtown Austin.

Five were said to be in critical condition. Those hurt, whose injuries were consistent with wounds sustained in vehicular collisions, were transported to three area hospitals, Commander Mike Benavides said.

“I’ve been here for seven years, and this (sort of thing) has never happened,” Acevedo said.

Acevedo said the crash occurred at about 12:30 a.m., when a man in a silver Toyota, allegedly intoxicated and being pursued by police, drove the wrong way down Red River Street, a one-way thoroughfare. He then plowed through the barricade and struck multiple pedestrians, a taxi and the moped before crashing into a van.

The driver, who has been identified by police as an African-American adult male, got out of the car and attempted to flee on foot, but an officer pursued, tased and apprehended him.

Acevedo said the suspect will be charged with two counts of capital murder and 23 counts of aggravated assault in a vehicle. He said more information on the investigation would be released at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

“There’s one person responsible and that’s that person who got behind that wheel and decided to drink and drive … and then when stopped by police, cared more about himself than these people out here,” he said. “He needs to go to jail, and hopefully for a long time.”

Six fire apparatus and 24 firefighters were deployed to the scene, said Harry Evans, chief of staff for the Austin Fire Dept.

The crash occurred outside the Mohawk Bar, a busy festival venue where musical performances were being held at the time. Music venues up and down Red River Street shut down during the police investigation, and the only sound that could be heard was that of a single idling police car.

http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/br...eral-injured-in-car-crash-at-sxsw-1201131077/

 

[jacobed]

I'm so sick and tried of seeing alcohol related deaths. They need to change law. If you kill someone while driving drunk its murder 1 plain and simple. It's never an accident and you never did it by mistake. You drive drunk, you're the idiot that deserves jail for the rest of your life. They had the right idea with the prohibition

 

[The Endless]

No they didn't. Sensible people who enjoy a drink shouldn't be punished because of a-holes like this guy.

 

[terry78]

Wowsers! You think the "Great Experiment" was a good thing huh?

Drunk driving is one of the only things that I will concede should be legally punished though no injury to another party may have occurred. Don't get me started on things like speeding if you do not drive for a living but are merely traveling, which is a constitutionally protected right. Please know that I have personally struggled and struiggled with the constitutionality of this question for years. Nowadays, I do believe that if you are caught behind the wheel intoxicated, 0.08% or higher, then you should suffer all the legal ramifications of doing so.

Because it is a CHOICE that one makes and obviously the choice is most often made PRIOR to a person ever taking the first sip. A small percentage of the time it is spur of the moment decision AFTER the consumption of alcohol has already started, but the vast, vast majority of the time an individual CHOOSES to drink and drive in advance. In my personal view this gives their act of drunk driving premeditation, and this premeditation by their own CHOICE makes any deaths a drunken driver may cause an act of murder.

Same thing people say about guns. the main issue is that a lot of people choose to drink before they drive because they arent technically drunk.

 

[Quasimod0]

Plus alcohol messes with your thought process anyway. You won't always be thinking clearly enough to make safe choices like that.

Also, alcohol is linked to 75,000 deaths in the US every year. There are about 30,000 gun related deaths per year. And I'd venture to say that many of the gun deaths also involved alcohol in some way.

 

[Breogan]

He then plowed through the barricade and struck multiple pedestrians, a taxi and the moped before crashing into a van.

The driver, who has been identified by police as an African-American adult male, got out of the car and attempted to flee on foot, but an officer pursued, tased and apprehended him.

At this point knowing he hit people, and then kept fleeing trying to save himself, while others died.
I don't care how "impaired" he was, he wasn't stumbling around going ¿what happened? No he was lucid enough to protect himself. Yeah a straightup murderer.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Drunk Driver Who Killed Two People Was At SXSW to Perform a Rap Show

The 21-year-old drunk driver who plowed his car into a group of South by Southwest revelers had been scheduled to perform a rap concert at the festival later that night.

Police say Rashad Charjuan Owens had previous DUI offenses and now faces capital murder and aggravated assault charges for killing two people and injuring 23 others when he rammed his car past two wooden barriers and into a large group of people.

Court records show Owens was arrested in 2011 in Alaska for driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident, and a probation violation. That same year he was also charged with criminal trespass in an unrelated offense.

According to court records, at the time of the crash there was an active warrant out for his arrest in Alaska for failure to appear.

Austin police chief Art Acevedo said the state is filing capital murder charges—which allow prosecutors to ask for the death penalty—because Owens intentionally plowed into the crowd. One of the first people hit, musician Scott Jakota, said Owens "gunned" the car at him.

According to reports, the aspiring rapper, who reportedly has six children, was trying to evade police, who were trying to conduct some sort of a sobriety check.

Owens was asked to pull over at a sobriety check point and instead allegedly sped away from a police car. He smashed through a police barricade and then plowed down people, some of them lined up outside the Mohawk club, over a span of two blocks.

Witnesses said victims were flying in the air after being struck.
Owens then tried to flee the scene on foot before he was shot by a police officer with a stun gun and arrested. He suffered only minor injuries in the crash.

The AP identified the two people fatally struck as 35-year-old Massive Music creative director Steven Craenmehr and 27-year-old Jamie Ranae West.

http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/250229711.html

What a waste of a human being. I hope this guy gets locked up for life but knowing TX and they way they filed these charges I'm sure they will kill him

 

[Teelie]

It is Texas. They prefer to execute over life in prison. Even if there are extenuating circumstances or the odd innocent but wrongly convicted person.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Six kids and he makes stupid choices like this? I have words for this type of person, but I'm not gonna put them here.

 

[Anita18]

It is Texas. They prefer to execute over life in prison. Even if there are extenuating circumstances or the odd innocent but wrongly convicted person.

Plus he's a black dude.

But seriously. You get stopped by police, YOU STAY STOPPED. Instead of just getting a DUI, he ran off, killed people and injured scores more. AND he got tazed. Way to go dude. I do not get people with stupidity of that depth.

 

[Octoberist]

Jesus, only 21 with 6 kids, a previous DUI and now this? What an awful human being and his kids deserve better. What a moron.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

And people wonder why I'm in favor of capital punishment. This guy shouldn't be allowed to breathe air.

 

[Octoberist]

Yeah, this guy has been messed up from the very moment he was born. Whatever path he took, be it withou any true love or support, would lead him to disaster. This sort of tragedy was bound to happen, caused by him. If not now, it would be later.

 

[The Endless]

Yea, he's the very definition of scum. And the worst thing is, he probably has zero remorse.

 

[Octoberist]

I think he has 'fake' remorse, as in 'I'll say anything to get out of the death penalty'.

 

[PalmerTheThing]

Didn't Tyler the Creator get arrested for starting a riot at the show.

The whole event sounded like a giant poopy-sandwhich.