Charges upgraded after video shows teen driver laughing when cyclist fatally struck
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In a shocking video posted online, a retired police chief was struck and killed while riding his bicycle by an alleged teenage car thief whose passenger can be heard telling him to “hit” the victim.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police say Andreas Probst, 64, was killed after he was deliberately struck while out for an early bike ride on Aug. 14.
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Charges upgraded after video shows teen driver laughing when cyclist fatally struck Back to video
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The driver did not remain on the scene but a 17-year-old was arrested by officers shortly after the horrific incident.
His charges were related to the hit-and-run but were upgraded to open murder after video depicting the mowing down of Probst showed it was an “intentional act,” KTNV reported.
The footage begins with passengers of a car cursing at traffic as they speed along a roadway.
The laughing passenger filming shows the driver asking his friends if they are “ready” as the person behind the phone replies, “Yeah, hit his a**.”
The video shows the car approaching a cyclist from behind and, with his friends egging him on, the driver pulls into the bike lane behind him, honks his horn, and plows into Probst’s back tire with a loud bang.
WARNING: VIDEO IS DISTURBING
The retiree was sent flying as the passenger then films the helpless man lying on the side of the road.
“Damn that n***** got knocked out!” the passenger is heard saying as driver speeds away.
Emergency crews arrived and Probst was rushed to a local trauma centre where he died.
Police said the teen was in a stolen Hyundai fleeing from a previous hit-and-run crash before striking Probst, and was associated with other vehicle thefts that took place that day.
It is unclear if the passenger who filmed the killing has been charged.
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Probst spent 35 years in law enforcement before retiring from his post as police chief in Bell, Calif., the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.
He and his wife, Crystal, would have celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary next month.
According to the Review Journal, his daughter Taylor Probst, 27, received a notification from her dad’s Apple Watch that he had fallen so she and her mother drove to his location less than five kilometres from their home.
“I come from law enforcement as well in my younger days,” his wife told the newspaper. “I was able to ascertain, there’s his bike, his helmet is way over there, his phone is way over there. I’m like, this is not good.”
Probst had already been taken to hospital so his family went there and waited several hours before receiving the news that he had not survived.
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