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8 months ago
22
The moment a teenager allegedly killed a mom and three kids after smashing into their minivan at 112mph has been caught in a shocking video released by cops.
Surveillance footage shows Chase Jones, 18, traveling at break-neck speed in his 2015 Audi A4 before tearing through the van in a Seattle suburb on March 19.
Jones was allegedly traveling at 112mph before the horrific crash at the intersection of South 192nd Street and 140th Avenue South in Renton, triggering a multi-vehicle pile-up.
The victims were identified as sisters Eloise and Matilda Wilcoxson, 12 and 13; Buster Brown, 12; and Andrea Hudson, 38. Court documents seen by KOMO News say they were 'immediately killed' by the 'incredibly violent collision'.
Hudson's two children were also in the car but miraculously survived and are now stable after initially being taken to a Washington hospital in a critical condition.
Chase Jones (pictured) appeared to smirk briefly as he appeared in court by video-link on Monday and pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide and reckless driving
Surveillance footage shows Jones, 18, traveling at break-neck speed in his 2015 Audi A4 before tearing through the van at an intersection in a Seattle suburb on March 19
Appearing in court via video-link from his hospital bed on Monday, Jones looked expressionless as the charges leveled against him were read out, before pleading not guilty.
He also appeared to be holding back a smirk at another point in the courtroom clip published by KOMO News.
The teen has been charged with four counts of vehicular homicide, two counts of vehicular assault and one count of reckless driving.
Also appearing in court by video-link, the mother of the two young girls killed said Jones has not tried to contact the families whose lives have been torn apart by the grisly crash.
'I'm a little concerned and shocked that there has been, to my knowledge, no attempt to reach out to us with any kind of message of sympathy or regret,' Rivka Wilcoxson told the court.
Prosecutors said this isn't the first time Jones has been involved with law enforcement for dangerous driving.
'There is evidence that this defendant has been driving at an excessive speed and totaled two vehicles before this collision,' Senior Deputy Attorney Amy J Freedheim told the court, adding that the other crashes unfolded in January this year.
The court set Jones' bail At $100,000 and recommended that he be placed on electronic home monitoring if he posts the sum. He is also banned from driving.
Andrea Hudson, 38, was carpooling five children including two of her own when another car blew through a red light at an intersection, smashing into her van and killing her instantly
Among the victims were sisters Eloise and Matilda Wilcoxson, 12 and 13, who are survived by their parents and four other siblings
Also killed in the accident was 12-year-old Buster Brown, who was described as 'an exemplary son, brother, and friend'
Jones and the victims' families appeared in court via video-link on Monday
Defense lawyer Brad Barshi told the court Jones had suffered broken arms and legs in the crash and would be in hospital for a long time.
'My client is not out there stealing cars, having a gun, intentionally trying to commit a violent crime,' Barshi told the court, per KOMO News.
'This is an allegation in which my client may have made a dumb mistake by driving above the speed limit. That's the allegation.'
Pictured: Jones on police bodycam footage at the site of a previous crash
But the father of the two girls killed in the crash disagreed - pointing out Jones' 'reckless' history - but expressing empathy for the teenager despite it all.
'Your honor, I don't have evidence of remorse or of his home environment being the right environment for him to heal and change and become the man that he should become,' Chace Wilcoxson told the court, per KOMO News.
'I don't have hard evidence, but I'm confident that I personally have seen this car driven recklessly days and weeks before this accident. I don't think that this was just a dumb mistake.'
Bodycam footage from the scene of a previous crash allegedly caused by Jones shows him admitting that he was speeding to a police officer.
'I saw an open road. I was definitely going above the speed limit of 25,' Jones told the officer in May 2023. When asked to estimate his speed, he said '40 or 50.'
'He told me he was speeding down the street ... that dude was hauling,' a KPD officer is heard saying in the video.
Jones had crashed another car and the other driver involved said he was turning when Jones, in a Chevy Tahoe, approached at high speeds.
The officer let Jones off with a warning and talked to the teen's parents before leaving the scene.
Hudson is survived by her husband, Abe, and three children. Two of her kids, 14-year-old Nolan and 12-year-old Charlotte, were in the van at the time of the crash and suffered serious injuries
The Wilcoxson sisters were described by their mother as 'inseparable'
Jones, 18, has been charged with vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and reckless driving in connection to Tuesday's crash. He was allegedly going 112 mph when he 'T-boned' Hudson's vehicle
According to court documents, Tuesday's multi-car pileup was the third speeding crash Jones had been involved in over the last 11 months
Photographs of the families affected have been left at the scene of the crash
'It's a mistake, mistakes happen. Lessons need to be learned, as long as you learn it,' the cop said.
The next crash happened in January, where another driver said Jones was traveling at such a high speed he did not even see him coming, according to KOMO.
Jones bought an Audi a month before the deadly crash, and after he totaled two other cars in the earlier wrecks.
The deadly crash last week left three families heartbroken over the loss of their loved ones.
'When you're driving, think of the people around you,' the girls' father, Chace Wilcoxson, previously told the Seattle Times.
'When you're tempted to speed, think of Andrea. When you're tempted to grab your phone while you're driving, think of my beautiful girls, Matilda and Eloise.
'When you're trying to make the light, remember Buster Brown.'
All four victims died from 'multiple blunt force injuries,' according to the King County Medical Examiner's Office
Hudson's children, Nolan and Charlotte, who were also in the van, suffered brain bleeds, internal injuries and broken bones and taken to Harborview Medical Center.
An adult in a third car, which was hit on in the collision, sustained minor injuries.
Jones was treated for an internal injury that required surgery as well as a fractured leg and ribs.
Hudson, who led a homeschooling group, was driving the three children home when she passed through the intersection and was T-boned by Jones, according to court documents.
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