The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office has charged an 19-year-old driver this week in the deaths of two teens who died in a fiery, single-vehicle crash in DeBary back in February.
One of the teens was “car surfing,” or riding on the exterior of the vehicle at the time it careened out of control, while the second victim was killed after the wrecked vehicle burst into flames. Sheriff’s investigators concluded that the driver, Joshua Ritter, reached average speeds of nearly double the posted limit prior to the crash.
Some of the evidence in the case was obtained from cell phone video recorded by one of the passengers who survived the wreck.
Early Tuesday afternoon, Ritter turned himself in at the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach after Sheriff’s investigators obtained a warrant charging him with two counts of vehicular homicide and one count of reckless driving causing serious bodily injury.
The crash, which occurred along Fort Florida Road on the morning of Feb. 1, claimed the lives of two 18-year-olds, Hunter Perez and Carlos Velazco. Velazco was riding on the outside of the 2001 Nissan Xterra, holding on to the exterior along the driver’s side door when he tumbled off as the car began to wreck. He ended up in a ditch and was airlifted for medical treatment, but was pronounced dead at the hospital.
After Ritter lost control of the vehicle, it flipped over and came to a rest on its side.
Another passenger riding on the rear bumper of the SUV was tossed to the ground. Ritter and another passenger scrambled out of the front seat to get out of the SUV. Perez, though, who was in the back seat, didn’t make it out. He died at the scene after the vehicle burst into flames.
Deputies recovered the video that one of the passengers shot on a cell phone that recorded the escapades right up until the moment of the crash.
In addition to confirming the positioning of all of the participants, the video along with physical evidence, the damage to the vehicle and witness statements helped investigators estimate the speed of the vehicle -- an average of 67 mph in the 35 mph zone.
One portion of the video even showed the vehicle’s speedometer hovering at around 80 mph. Prior to the crash, according to investigators, the five teens drove up and down Fort Florida Road, changing positions and taking turns riding on the exterior of the vehicle. The crash occurred as the SUV was westbound in the 700 block of Fort Florida Road, a dirt portion of the street that’s west of Barwick Road.
After prosecutors with the State Attorney’s Office reviewed the results of the Sheriff’s Office’s investigation, it was presented to Circuit Court Judge Hubert L. Grimes. Grimes signed the arrest warrant on Monday. Ritter, who lives in DeBary, turned himself in at the jail at bout 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. He’s being held on $200,000 bond.
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