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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Teenager arrested after cyclists targeted in misguided revenge for friends’ fatal car crash

A 16-year-old from Travelers Rest in South Carolina is facing multiple charges, including six counts of attempted murder, after he repeatedly targeted cyclists as revenge for the deaths of two friends, even though authorities say cyclists had no role in the accident. Investigators say the teenager thought his friends, Josey Macala Cox, 17, and Timothy Michael Arrowood, 19, crashed last December because they were trying to drive around cyclists in the road. Cox and Arrowood both died at the scene. At that time several people said cyclists caused the crash.
But investigators said the crash happened when Arrowood lost control of the vehicle, left the road and hit trees, and cyclists were not to blame. The teen apparently continued to believe the wreck was caused by cyclists, and he began to target road riders, deputies say. The teen shot fireworks at cyclists and on several occasions, he even tried to run them off the road with his car, according to Jonathan Smith with the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office. The teen was caught after members of the Greenville Spinners Bicycle Club started posted warnings on their Facebook page about a driver harassing cyclists.
A GCSO investigator rides with the Spinners, and he started an investigation into the incidents. The investigator said he determined the lengthy pattern of assaults involved the same motorist with cyclists in the same part of the county. All the incidents involved the same driver in a black Hyundai Tiburon. Several victims reported the driver verbally assaulted, and in some cases physically assaulted both male and female cyclists who were riding their bikes on the road. The physical assaults included spitting, throwing drinks and lit fireworks at the cyclists, and even attempting to cause the cyclists to crash or to crash the vehicle into them.
The incidents known to investigators happened between December 2014 and April 2015. Eleven victims have been identified. The teen, whose name is not being released because of his age, was arrested on Friday. He is charged with six counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault and battery, two counts of third-degree assault and battery, two counts of shooting fireworks from a vehicle and eleven counts of taunting cyclists. Investigators believe there may be additional victims who have not yet come forward. Anyone who believes they have been victimized by the teen is asked to call police.
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