Maurice Wedgeworth and Clyde Lawson were charged with three counts of manslaughter and a count of leaving the scene of an accident with injuries. Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Senior Trooper Reginal King said the two men were in an illegal street race when the incident happened.
Street race in Eutaw, Alabama aren't uncommon. People in the neighborhood gathered to watch the said race but it ended up with fatalities and casualties. WKRG News stated that authorities have said 30-year-old Rodney Hutton, 22-year-old Jalesa Kiara Merritt and 3-year-old Jhayden Pippen died after being hit, while three children, ages six, seven and nine were also injured together with six other bystanders.
Yahoo News reported that Wedgeworth, 22, was racing Clyde Lawson, 27, who was driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The crash happened on a tree lined, two-lane county road. Both drivers fled the scene but Wedgeworth later surrendered to authorities at a local hospital. Relatives of the 22-year-old racer said the unemployed father of four probably thought that racing would make him easy money.
According to ABC News, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Senior Trooper Reginal King said in an emailed statement, Lawson was taken into custody miles away in Huntsville. Both charged men are now in the Greene County jail.
Wedgewoth's aunt, Kimberly Warren, came to Wedgeworth's defense saying it hurts her to know that this tragedy happened. She also said it probably hurts Wedgeworth too because most of the affected people are his friends and are familiar to them. He also has to take care of his four children, he probably only wants to make money for his children. "My heart goes out more to those who got killed and their family than my grandbaby," she said. "I love my grandbaby, now. But you know, they got to prepare funerals for their kids," she said.
Wedgeworth and his aunt said they hope people would stop and think twice before engaging in a dangerous street race. Not only money is in bet here but also lives of the people important to you.
