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The names of the two were not released by Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney due to their statuses as minors.
The crash happened Monday, July 12, 2021 in North Babylon.
One of the teens, who was age 16 at the time of the crash, was arrested after he fled from a Westchester juvenile detention center where he was being held on another crime, according to authorities, who did not identify the name or precise location of the facility.
The boy jumped out of a window and fled on foot from the facility, authorities said, before he was eventually tracked down later in the morning by New York State Police troopers who located him in a backyard residence and took him into custody.
The boy was allegedly driving a stolen Jeep Cherokee eastbound on the Southern State Parkway when the crash happened, Tierney said.
The other boy, then age 15, was allegedly driving a stolen Range Rover behind the then 16-year-old, according to Tierney.
The then 16-year-old was driving erratically and recklessly, weaving in and out of traffic without signaling and at high rate speed well in excess of the posted 55 mph speed limit, going over to at least 100 mph, said Tierney.
As he continued to drive, he cut between two cars, driving on the dotted white line (between one car in the center lane and one car in the right lane), said Tierney.
"After navigating between those two cars, the Range Rover, allegedly driven by Defendant 2, attempted to do the same, but collided with the two victim’s cars in the center and right lane," Tierney stated. "One of the victim’s cars collided into the center median and the driver sustained a laceration to his head requiring staples."
The victim car in the right lane flipped and crashed, killing the driver, Richard Riggs, age 75, of Holbrook.
The then 16-year-old allegedly turned the Jeep Cherokee around, drove westbound on the eastbound shoulder of the Southern State Parkway and drove back to the crash site, said Tierney, who added that he ultimately picked up the 15-year-old and another occupant in the stolen Range Rover and fled the scene.
Later that day, the 16-year-old was allegedly involved in another motor vehicle crash in Bay Shore where he went through a stop sign, struck another car and fled the scene on foot, Tierney stated. The driver of that other car sustained minor injuries.
DNA analysis assisted in the investigation linking the then 16-year-old to the crimes, Tierney noted.
“It is alleged that these defendants recklessly sped through the parkway with vehicles that did not belong to them without considering the laws they were breaking and the lives they put at risk including their own,” said Tierney. “This was a senseless crime that took the life of a husband, a father and grandfather for no good reason. We look forward to bringing those responsible to justice.”
The then 16-year-old was arraigned Friday in front of Suffolk County Court Judge Karen Kerr and is being held on $500,000 cash bail, $750,000 secured bond or $1 million partially secured bond. He is due back in court Wednesday, April 6.
Because he was 15 years-old at the time of the alleged crime, the second teen was arraigned in Family Court by the County Attorney’s Office.
Both are being charged with Second Degree Manslaughter, Second Degree Assault and Third Degree Criminal Possession of Stolen of Stolen Property.
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