AP – Police have charged a 13-year-old with murder, taken an 11-year-old into custody and are continuing to search for a 15-year-old in the apparently deliberate hit-and-run of a bicyclist in Albuquerque that was recorded on video inside a stolen car last year.
The detained 13-year-old boy is believed to be the driver of the car involved in the May 2024 hit-and-run that killed 63-year-old physicist Scott Dwight Habermehl while he was biking to his job at Sandia National Laboratories. The other boys are believed to have been passengers. Video of the crash was recorded from inside the car and circulated on social media. It was reported to authorities by people including a middle school principal after a student flagged it.
A portion of the video, ending just before impact, was released by police on Tuesday. It shows the car accelerating as the flashing tail light of a bicycle becomes visible. A voice believed to be the 15-year-old’s said, “Just bump him, brah.”
According to police, the driver asked, “Like bump him?”
A passenger said, “Yeah, just bump him. Go like …15 …20.”
The car veers into a marked, dedicated bike lane. Loud sounds can then be heard in the full recording, including “metal flexing”, according to law enforcement.
