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Man Chases and Crashes Into Teens Riding His Brother's Stolen Bike, Killing Them: Police

What to Know

  • Police on Long Island say a man in a van chased two teens riding his brother's stolen bike
  • The van and the bike crashed and the two teens were killed; the man was arrested
  • Police say there's no evidence of a hate crime, but there's outrage that the man, who is white, didn't help the black teens after the crash

Two teens died after a man who saw them on his brother's stolen dirt bike chased and crashed into them with a minivan on Long Island, police said. 

Suffolk County police said it appeared the bike had been stolen Thursday morning and the driver of the Odyssey minivan was attempting to get it back when he saw the two teens riding it in North Bellport.

"The driver of the minivan spotted his bike and he attempted to obtain the dirt bike," Suffolk Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said.

The two vehicles eventually collided at Montauk Highway and Doane Avenue in North Bellport. 

The 2006 Honda bike was seen hanging off the back of the van at the crash site. Witnesses said the van hit the bike head-on.

Christopher Bouchard, the 27-year-old driver of the van, was arrested. He faces charges of reckless endangerment in the first degree. He was expected to be arraigned on Friday. Information on his lawyer wasn't immediately available.

His 31-year-old brother was a passenger in the van at the time. He was not injured or taken into custody. 

Police said Keenen King, 19, was killed in the crash. The other teen, Anthony Holmes-Garriques, was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he died. 

Commissioner Sini stressed that there is no evidence the crash was a hate crime, but there was outrage that Bouchard, who is white, went to recover the stolen bike after the crash, instead of helping the black teens as they lay dying in the street.

Holmes-Garriques' aunt, Danielle Booker, told News 4 that the driver of the van deserves his punishment. 

"Take two lives, for what?" Booker said. "You can go get another bike, you can't get another life." 

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