A teen who was driving a stolen car when he allegedly sped through a red light and fatally struck a man on a motorcycle in Miami is now facing a vehicular homicide charge, police said.
The 17-year-old was initially charged with grand theft of a vehicle after the Tuesday morning crash that killed 34-year-old John Koontz.
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WATCH HEREBut Miami Police officials said Thursday that the teen is now also facing charges of vehicular homicide in a reckless manner and driving without a license causing death.
The crash happened just after 2 a.m. Tuesday in the area of Northwest 20th Street and Northwest 7th Avenue.
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Police said the teen was behind the wheel of a red Kia Soul that ran a red light and hit Koontz and his motorcycle, sending the car and motorcycle crashing into some nearby bushes and causing the Kia to flip on its side.
Surveillance video showed the car speeding through the intersection before hitting the motorcycle and rolling over.
First responders took Koontz to the hospital, but he did not survive, authorities said. He leaves behind two children, ages 2 and 7.
The teen and his female passenger weren't seriously injured.
According to an arrest report, the car had been stolen out of North Miami and records showed the teen has never had a driver's license issued to him.
The female who was with the teen said he'd picked her up and they went back to his house to get some marijuana, then stopped at a store to buy some rolling papers, the report said.
She said they were driving on Northwest 7th Avenue when she heard a police siren behind them and she told the teen to stop the car.
"Stop, stop, you're not going to get nowhere, stop," she told him, according to the report.
She said he told her he wasn't stopping because the car was stolen and he'd just gotten off house arrest, the report said.
As they approached the intersection, he kept going faster and that's when she said she saw the motorcycle and told him he wasn't going to make it and was going to hit the motorcycle, the report said.
She said the teen tried to turn the car but they drifted toward the motorcycle and hit it, the report said.
Records showed the teen had been charged with attempted second-degree murder in November 2023 but just last month a plea deal was apparently reached where it was dropped to a misdemeanor charge of openly carrying a weapon.
