A 50-year-old man has been charged with two counts of murder in connection with a fatal crash that killed two teenage girls in Victorville, California, on Aug. 14. Terry Lamar Easter, of Apple Valley, was also charged with willful cruelty to a child and engaging in a motor vehicle speed contest, according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors allege that Easter was street racing a yellow Chevrolet Camaro at speeds up to 117 mph near Ridgecrest Road and Elmwood Drive when he collided with an Acura carrying Sultana High School seniors Maddalyn Dailey and Isabell Hill. The impact was so severe that the Acura was split in half, authorities stated. Easter allegedly fled the scene of the crash, leaving his 8-year-old child in his vehicle.
“This was not an accident. Street racing at 117 mph is a deliberate and extraordinarily dangerous choice that ended the lives of two young best friends, exposing his own 8-year-old child to that danger, and abandoning his child after the crash to flee the scene,” District Attorney Jason Anderson said in a statement.
Easter, who is also known as “Capone,” was the subject of a $1 million arrest warrant and was considered armed and dangerous by the California Highway Patrol. He is scheduled to appear in Victorville Superior Court.
Easter's associate, Ryan Lewis, and Lewis’ mother, Madge Wells, were also sought in connection with the crash and have since been apprehended. The other driver involved in the collision remained at the scene and was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.