Teen, 18, charged with murdering retired LA police chief in hit-and-run while his friend filmed it is hit with EIGHTEEN new charges, including stealing a car
The teenage driver accused of killing a retired California police chief in a hit-and-run crash is facing a total of 18 new charges, including stealing a car.
Jesus Ayala, 18, and Jzamir Keys, 16, were pictured in court for the first time today after being charged with the murder of Andreas Probst, 64.
Probst was struck around 6 a.m. on August 14 while riding his bicycle on the freeway in northwest Las Vegas.
Ayala, who was 17 at the time, was reportedly driving the 2016 Hyundai Elantra, and Keys was recording and laughing in the passenger seat. The 18-year-old has a reputation in the juvenile justice system – and now faces a hefty slew of additional charges.
Ayala and Keys were in Las Vegas court today for a custody hearing, where their court date was scheduled for September 26.
Jesus Ayala was arrested shortly after the crash and has been charged with murder. Jzamir Keys, 16, is seen in the passenger seat
Andreas Probst, 64, was mowed down and killed around 6 a.m. on August 14 while riding his bicycle along an empty highway in the city’s northwest.
The mother of Jesus Ayala (pictured) has said she ‘don’t know’ if her son can be forgiven for his alleged crimes – after police announced the youngsters will be charged as adults
Probst, 64, was fatally struck on August 14 while cycling in northwest Las Vegas. Footage filmed by the passenger shows he was deliberately killed by the teenage driver
He was arrested the same day as the collision – and prosecutors have laid him on 18 different charges, from murder to conspiracy to burglary.
Ayala’s lengthy list of charges includes: open murder, battery with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, two counts of failure to stop at the scene of an accident, and reckless driving.
He is also charged with: three counts of possession of a stolen vehicle, two counts of theft of a motor vehicle, burglary of a building, possession of burglary tools, two counts of conspiracy to commit grand larceny, conspiracy to possess stolen vehicles and to carry. , advertisement conspiracy to commit burglary.
Ayala’s mother has said she “doesn’t know” whether her son – who was 17 at the time – can be forgiven for his alleged crimes, after police announced the youngsters will be charged as adults.
She told me earlier 8News now: ‘I don’t know why he did this. I don’t know if God can forgive this.’
Meanwhile, Keys, who was arrested this week after a police appeal for information, is believed to have been the passenger who instigated the attack and filmed a sick video.
It took police five weeks to arrest him. It is believed he was wearing a face mask at the time of the sick collision.
His mother broke the news via text message: “My son’s side of the story will be told, ‘the truth’, not the inaccuracies the media will try to portray.”
Probst retired to Nevada after stepping down as police chief of Bell, California, in 2009
Andreas Probst (pictured) was fatally struck by a teenage driver in an intentional collision in Las Vegas on August 14. Both the driver and his accomplice in the passenger seat who took a sick video of the murder have now been charged with murder
The duo was taken to the Clark County Detention Center on Wednesday and they will be charged with murder with a deadly weapon, battery and attempted murder in Las Vegas District Court.
Keys, the accused passenger, was in the child welfare system at the age of eight after his mother was charged with five counts of child molestation in 2016.
Police said they also tied the teens to at least three hit-and-run incidents the same day.
They believe the killing of Probst, who retired as police chief in Bell, California, in 2009, ended the wave.
Graphic video shows a dashboard view from the front seat of a vehicle approaching Probst from behind as he drove past the curb on an otherwise traffic-free road.
Laughter and commentary are heard from inside the car before Probst, wearing a red shirt and dark shorts, was punched and thrown against the windshield.
Ayala can be heard in the clip asking Keys if he was “done.” Keys then said, “Yeah, beat his ass.”
A final image of the moving car shows the retired top cop on the ground next to the curb.
Probst’s heartbroken daughter told a police news conference that she believes her father’s reckless death was caused by society’s “decay of family values.”
She said: ‘It was a random act of violence’ and urged people not to politicize his death to create ‘cultural wars’.
His daughter remembered Probst as a “man of honor and integrity.”
Deputy Police Chief Nick Farese called the “intentional” collision in a stolen vehicle and the sick video “an act of cowardice that has personally shocked me in my 22 years in law enforcement.”
At a news conference Tuesday, Taylor Probst described her father — known to loved ones as “Andy” — as a man of honor and integrity who spent more than 35 years in law enforcement.
“We are devastated by Andy’s senseless murder,” she said. “Andy’s life was taken by two individuals who did not believe the lives of others mattered.”
Probst urged prosecutors to “bring these crimes to the fullest extent of the law.”