Las Vegas prosecutors said Monday they are looking to bring adult murder charges against a teen driver, just days after video surfaced of the accused juvenile motorist and his passenger laughing gleefully as they mowed down a cyclist.
The Clark County District Attorney’s Office said it is trying to certify the 17-year-old suspect as an adult in the hit-and-run killing of Andreas Probst, a retired police chief, last month.
The teen was originally facing the murder charge as a juvenile prior to the district attorney’s office announcement Monday. Police said the deadly collision was intentional.
The suspect is currently in custody.
“I am confident that justice will be served in this matter once the investigation is complete and the appropriate charges have been filed,” Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said in a statement.
It’s unclear when the boy was arrested. Police are still searching for the passenger, who they also believe is a teenage boy.
Police learned of the video late last month, almost two weeks after the 64-year-old Probst was struck by a motorist and eventually died at a hospital.
#ICYMI | Video shows Andreas Probst’s fatal hit-and-run in Las Vegas was intentional.
— VOZ (@Voz_US) September 17, 2023
The recording shows how the 17-year-old killer deliberately smashes the former police officer with his vehicle while the victim was riding a bicycle. pic.twitter.com/g0Y5UZhdye
The deadly crash happened on Aug. 14. The brazen nature of the crime was revealed by the passenger’s 50-second video clip that went viral over the weekend.
One of the teens can be heard saying “Ready?” and the other egged on the ramming by saying “Hit his a—.”
The driver then sped behind Probst and struck the cyclist, sending the victim tumbling over the roof of the car before he landed on the pavement.
The passenger points the camera back at Probst lying lifeless on the ground as they drive away. One of the males says “This n— knocked out,” and the other replies “Oh s—, we gotta get out of here.”
“That’s pretty disgusting,” criminologist Dr. Scott Bonn told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after watching the video. He said he agreed with the district attorney’s decision to pursue adult charges against the boy because “this is a particularly heinous act.”
Probst moved to Las Vegas after retiring as a police chief in Bell, California, in 2009.
“He was an amazing man, a husband…a father, a brother,” Andreas’s wife Crystal Probst said at a Ghost Bike Memorial ceremony earlier this month.
“He was honestly like a ray of sunshine,” Taylor Probst said of her late father at the ceremony. “That just bled through your life.”
Authorities said the teen driver is accused of carrying out another hit-and-run crash prior to striking Probst, which also appeared to be caught on the same video.
Police believe the car used in the crime had been stolen.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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