A 15-year-old Washington state girl killed a jogger when she intentionally rammed him with a borrowed car, sped off — then later laughed about it with a friend, reports said.
Kasama Smith took her godmother’s car without permission and was doing 50 mph — 15 miles over the posted speed limit — when she plowed into 53-year-old Greg Moore on a Maple Valley street, according to the charges against her.
“I’m going to scare him, I’m going to bump him,” Smith told a passenger in the car as she approached Moore running at about 6 a.m. July 18, the Kent Reporter stated, citing the charges.
A friend of Smith’s following the Camry in another car told investigators she heard a loud bang, then “saw something fly into the air,” according to the Reporter.
Moore was found hours later, lying lifeless and shoeless in a ditch in front of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, according to KIRO-TV.
Kasama is facing second-degree murder and hit-and-run charges, but the victim’s widow is outraged the teen isn’t being tried as an adult for what she called a “thrill kill.”
“A family member (of the suspect) heard the individual laugh about the way Greg’s body flew up in the air when she hit him,” Michelle Moore told KIRO.
She told the station in an interview that it was wrong to describe the impact as a “bump” when the car was doing 50 mph.
“It’s a ‘thrill kill’ is what it’s called,” added Moore, who’d offered a $35,000 reward and set up a website to find her husband’s killer.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said the defendant’s age and lack of a criminal record led to her case not being moved to adult court.
“Even when juveniles are convicted as adults, Superior Court judges at sentencing can — and do in many cases — still follow the juvenile sentencing guidelines set by state lawmakers,” office spokesman Casey McNerthney told the Seattle Times.
Kasama is accused of taking her godmother’s car before the deadly prank, then lying to the car’s owner when she brought it back — denying she ever drove it and saying someone damaged it with a bat, according to the Reporter.
The teen spent the weeks following the crash concerned that friends might “snitch on her,” according to KIRO. Her godmother went to authorities when she watched surveillance footage of the car and recognized it as hers, the newspaper stated.
Kasama turned herself in to police last week, accompanied by her father.