‘Tit-for-Tat’ Street Race Between 54-Year-Old and 21-Year-Old Turns Fatal, Leaving Pedestrian Dead

Two natives from Colorado has been charged after a pedestrian lost his life as a result of a road rage incident. The incident occurred last year, while two people were on an alleged road racing when a pedestrian lost his life.

Two accused, identified as Jacob Morton, a 21-year-old, and Kari Frederick, a 54-year-old, were both arrested on April 1st, in connection with the death of a pedestrian. The victim who lost his life as a result of the road accident was a 63-year-old man identified as Gary Descheene. The incident occurred on December 11th last year.

According to the Grand Jurisdiction police department, both Morton and Frederick have been charged with engaging in a speed contest and reckless driving. Morton was also charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, one of which accused him of being under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident.

The arrest affidavit obtained by Grand Junction-based news outlet, The Daily Sentinel, said Morton and Frederick were behind the respective wheels of a Dodge Challenger and a Toyota Camry when the two encountered each other and allegedly tried to speed past each other.

According to the arrest affidavit, the victim, Descheene, was walking through a crosswalk around 8:30 in the evening on December last year, when a Challenger hit him that Morton was allegedly driving. Frederick witnessed the collision and told the police, “that it could have been her.” The authorities asked if both of them had discussed racing each other, but Frederick denied it.

When the authorities questioned Morton after the crash, he told them a totally different story. Police said Morton told them that he and Frederick started going “tit for tat” with each other while driving, saying that they would accelerate and pass each other. According to the affidavit, Morton changed his story about when they started and stopped racing each other. At one point, Morton told the police that they started racing as they reached the intersection a few blocks from where the crash took place, but at another time, he said that was where they stopped racing.

Both the accused were found to be racing before the crash. Frederick was allegedly driving about 22 mhp above the speed limit right before the crash, and Morton was allegedly driving 67 mhp before he ran into the 63-year-old victim.

The authorities said Morton admitted to smoking two puffs of marijuana leaf, about four hours before he got behind the wheel. According to the affidavit, his field sobriety test was “unsatisfactory.” A blood draw revealed a level of THC that fell exactly at the legal threshold for “permissible inference” of impairment.

While the authorities had clarified that Frederick was not directly involved in the crash, as mentioned in the affidavit, his speeding was “reckless.”