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Man Who Crashed Into Teens After Doorbell Prank Is Found Guilty of Murder Man Who Crashed Into Teens After Doorbell Prank Is Found Guilty of Murder
(12 days later)
A California man who crashed into a car of six teenagers after they played a doorbell ditch prank at his home in 2020 was convicted of murder on Friday.A California man who crashed into a car of six teenagers after they played a doorbell ditch prank at his home in 2020 was convicted of murder on Friday.
The man, Anurag Chandra, was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder in the crash on Temescal Canyon Road in Riverside County, Calif., after a jury deliberated for less than three hours. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office argued in the Superior Court of California that the crash, which killed three 16-year-old boys, was intentional.The man, Anurag Chandra, was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder in the crash on Temescal Canyon Road in Riverside County, Calif., after a jury deliberated for less than three hours. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office argued in the Superior Court of California that the crash, which killed three 16-year-old boys, was intentional.
Mr. Chandra is set to face sentencing in July and could see life in prison without the possibility of parole.Mr. Chandra is set to face sentencing in July and could see life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“The response and actions taken by the defendant are egregious and extremely disproportionate to a teen ringing a doorbell and running away,” John Hall, a spokesman with the district attorney’s office, said in an email at the time.“The response and actions taken by the defendant are egregious and extremely disproportionate to a teen ringing a doorbell and running away,” John Hall, a spokesman with the district attorney’s office, said in an email at the time.
In January 2020, one of the boys in the car had been dared to prank a home, the district attorney’s office said, and the six teenagers drove to Mr. Chandra’s in Corona, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The boy rang the doorbell and returned to the Prius they were riding in, and the group drove off.
Mr. Chandra then chased after them in his own vehicle, prosecutors said, and rammed into the back of the Prius, “causing it to veer off the road and into a tree.” He fled after the crash, the California Highway Patrol said, and was arrested after witnesses followed him to a home and alerted the authorities.