Utah teen high on drugs injures 11-year-old girl by intentionally ramming his car into her 'because she was white'
A man from Utah has been arrested and charged after he intentionally hit an 11-year-old girl with his car "because she was white." After striking her with the vehicle, he is said to have "charged" toward the injured girl and told her "we all have to die sometime."
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, 19-year-old Steven Ray Becky was driving in his 2010 Volkswagen Jetta near 15050 S. Winged Bluff Lane at around 8.30 am on Friday, May 31, when he hit the young girl. The car's front bumper hit the 11-year-old and the car overturned, with Draper City Police Chief John Eining stating during a news conference that Becky did not veer into or drift into the girl but that he "turned into" her on purpose.
Eining said Becky was driving on the wrong side of the road and turned into the girl, who was pushing her electric scooter along. Home surveillance in the area captured the horrific accident.
Witnesses in the area said after the accident that they saw the 19-year-old "charge" at the girl and tell her, "We all die sometime." He then tried to flee the scene of the crime but was stopped by a bystander who tackled him and held him down until emergency services arrived at the scene.
Becky allegedly confessed to the bystander that he was high on Xanax and marijuana, and later, while being treated at the hospital, told the doctors that he had taken LSD and eaten psychedelic mushrooms. Officers described his behavior as "erratic" and, in a report, said the 19-year-old was "uncooperative, aggressive and non-sympathetic toward the child victim."
During an interview, he then reportedly admitted to investigators that he knew the 11-year-old because he was staying with a family member whose child is friends with her and he swerved his car into her "because she was white". The 11-year-old was taken to a Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City in serious condition. She was luckily wearing a helmet at the time, and Eining expressed that it might just have saved her life. "It's very remarkable that the girl is in such good shape, very very fortunate," he told reporters. "We believe [the helmet] probably has something to do with the condition she's in now."
Becky has been charged with attempted criminal homicide and DUI with serious bodily injury over the weekend. He is currently being held at the Utah County Jail in Spanish Fork, Utah, on a $255,000 bond.
If you have a news scoop or an interesting story for us, please reach out at (323) 421-7514