Calif. man's charge upped to murder after boasting about speeding on Twitter

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Calif. man's charge upped to murder after boasting about speeding on Twitter Published August 15, 2013Associated Press

PLEASANTON, Calif. –  An 18-year-old accused of killing a bicyclist with his car has had a vehicular manslaughter charge upgraded to murder in part because he boasted about speeding on Twitter, prosecutors said Thursday.

Cody Hall, of Pleasanton, was being held without bail after he was charged Wednesday with the murder of 58-year-old Diana Hersevoort, the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune reported.

Hall was going more than 80 mph in a 40 mph zone when he hit Hersevoort and her husband along a busy boulevard in Dublin on June 9, prosecutors allege.  Hersevoort's husband only broke an arm, but she was killed.

An analysis of Hall's driving record, along with Twitter posts in which he discussed how fast he liked to drive, persuaded prosecutors to change the charge to murder, the Alameda County district attorney's office told the Chronicle.

Prosecutors did not immediately reply to messages left by The Associated Press, and a Twitter account apparently belonging to Hall is restricted from public view.

Brian Welch, a supervisor of the homicide unit at the Santa Clara County district attorney's office who is not involved in this case, told the Tribune that in most circumstances, fatal crashes result in murder charges when the suspect was recklessly fleeing police or was a drunken driver with previous convictions, not because of something like a Twitter feed.

Welch said in this case it is likely the tweets will serve as what's called a "pre-offense statement," often an email, handwritten note or text message, used to bolster prosecutors' attempt to prove malice.

"The challenge in these situations is proving that your defendant is the person who posted the statement," he said.

Neither the newspapers nor The Associated Press could reach an attorney for Hall for comment.

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Speeding dad Iowa ignores police with baby coming

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — an Iowa man who was pulled over for speeding as he rushed his pregnant wife to the Hospital says he was determined to go ahead in spite of flashing police lights behind him.

Tyler Rathjen designed to move forward as his wife, Ashley, began to give birth to their son in the passenger seat. But a red light with heavy traffic finally forced him to stop.

"I don't have to stop, I'm not going to, I'm going to get to the hospital," Tyler Rathjen recalled thinking in an interview with Cedar Rapids TV station KCRG (http://bit.ly/ZOaOiD).

Head and arms of the child was already out by the time that Iowa City officer Kevin Wolfe has reached the passenger door.

"We were all having a different experience," said Wolfe.

Ashley Rathjen gave to his third son, Owen, a few blocks from Mercy Hospital Iowa City on 10 March.

"I kept saying: there's no breakage (contractions) there is no rupture," he said. "It was coming at that time".

Wolfe helped with the final stages of delivery and then escorted the Williamsburg family in hospital. His dashboard camera captured the incident.

Owen is now home with her parents and two brothers.

Ashley Rathjen said that her infant son will probably tell the story for years to come.

"I'm sure it will be a life story to tell everyone (about) as he made his grand entrance," he said.

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Man risks arrest for speeding at 68 mph — on a skateboard

After uploading a video that purports to show him skating in an incredible 68 mph through the center of a skateboarder is potentially facing jail time .
South African skater Decius Lourenco faces charges after officials of the city of Cape Town said that his high skating speed actually triggered a speed camera. The speed limit in town who was skating through Lourenco referred 37 mph.
"All I needed was one of those drivers to panic and divert incoming traffic and you have a large number of deaths, as we have already had on that street, security spokesman Jean-Pierre Smith, told the New York Daily News".If we do not act against him, any other aspiring skateboarders will try and one of them will come to a sticky end.
It is difficult to argue that the stunt was dangerous and reckless, particularly with incoming traffic in the opposite lane. But Ilaria is a professional videographer and Kloof Nek, the way it accelerates downward, was used for professional skateboarding events in the past. In addition, her YouTube videos of stunt ("Spoofing the traffic camera-Longboarding without limits") include disclaimers discourage others from trying to recreate his enterprise, which has already been viewed more than 600,000 since it was released on 26 January.
However, as Reuters, went skateboarding events hosted on Kloof Nek have always taken their seats when all traffic was closed off the road. And local traffic laws prohibit skateboarders on public roads.
For its part, Lourenco, 24, says he doesn't understand where it comes from all the negative attention.
"I was skating down hills from a young age ... often going much faster than that, said in an interview with ioL news."This is the first time I got any attention to it. "

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