Teen accused of laughing as she struck jogger also hit second man, Washington cops say
The 15-year-old girl accused in the fatal hit-and-run of a jogger in July faces two more charges after investigators discovered she hit another person in Washington, authorities said.
The deadly hit-and-run occurred on July 18, when the teen was driving and hit 53-year-old Greg Moore in Maple Valley while he was running alongside a road, the King County Sheriff’s Office said.
The teen faces second-degree murder and a felony hit-and-run in the death of Moore. Prosecutors added another felony hit-and-run charge and second-degree assault on Wednesday in a case involving an unidentified man in Des Moines, on the east shore of Puget Sound.
The 15-year-old girl is not being identified because she is a juvenile.
Detectives said they learned the teen had hit another person after finding video footage of the accident on a witness’s phone, according to a probable cause statement. Girls can be heard laughing in the video as the car, which authorities say appears to be the same Toyota Camry that allegedly hit Moore, accelerates and hits a man, the statement says.
A “thump” is heard in the video after the teen strikes the man wearing a white tank top, the statement says.
Then a girl says “Smack b-tch smack,” before the video ends, according to authorities in the statement. A witness identified the girl who made the comment as the 15-year-old driver.
Detectives interviewed the 14-year-old passenger. She told them the driver swerved and hit the man because he flipped them off and was “doing crack head things.”
The man got up, held his head and flipped them off again, according to the witness’s statement to authorities.
The video was created on the phone the day before Moore had been killed, but the device didn’t have metadata, which discloses the time, date and the location of the cell tower used by the phone.
Officials released a blurry photo of the man who they believe was injured, according to the sheriff’s office.
“As a community we can honor Greg’s memory by identifying and delivering justice for this man, who we believe was harmed by yet another senseless, criminal act,” King County Sheriff Mitzi G. Johanknecht said in the post on Sept. 20.
Moore’s wife pleaded with prosecutors to charge the teen as an adult, KING-TV reported on Sept. 14.
“Greg and I got married in my parent’s backyard 30 years ago today. Instead of celebrating with him, I am here alone, alone in this world without my partner,” Michelle told the news outlet.
But the King County Prosecutor’s Office said the girl will not be tried as an adult in court because she was 15-years-old at the time of the offense and had no prior criminal history.
The teen pleaded not guilty at her juvenile court hearing on Sept. 15. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday at the Children and Family Justice Center in Seattle.
This story was originally published October 21, 2021 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Teen accused of laughing as she struck jogger also hit second man, Washington cops say."
