3 of 6 clown teens in a Prius dead after ramming by ding dong ditched doorowner deemed death penalty due

[clapclapclap 9000]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/us/ding-dong-ditch-prank-crash-deaths.html

Spoiler

A man who the authorities contend deliberately crashed his car into another one on a Southern California road last Sunday, killing three of the six teenagers inside, did so because the group had played a so-called doorbell ditch prank on him, prosecutors said this week.

The man, Anurag Chandra, 42, faces several murder charges for his role in the Temescal Canyon Road crash, which the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said on Thursday occurred because of the prank.

In a doorbell ditch, also commonly known as a ding-dong-ditch, a person rings a doorbell and tries to run away before anyone opens the door.

After one of the boys had been dared, all six teenagers drove to a nearby home on Mojeska Summit Road in Corona, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles, the district attorney’s office said, citing the California Highway Patrol’s investigation. The boy rang the doorbell and returned to the 2002 Prius that they were riding in, and the group took off.

 

But Mr. Chandra, who lives at the home, chased after them in his 2019 Infiniti Q50, prosecutors said. His car rammed into the back of the Prius, “causing it to veer off the road and into a tree,” prosecutors said.

 

 

 

 

Anurag ChandraCredit...Riverside County Sheriff's Department, via Associated Press

Daniel Hawkins, Jacob Ivascu and Drake Ruiz, all 16-year-old passengers, were killed in the crash, prosecutors said. The 18-year-old driver and two other boys, ages 13 and 14, were injured but survived.

“The circumstances in this case are unusual,” John Hall, a spokesman with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, said in an email on Friday night. “Based on the evidence in this case, the response and actions taken by the defendant are egregious and extremely disproportionate to a teen ringing a doorbell and running away.”

Mr. Chandra was scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday, but “it was continued at the request of the defense,” Mr. Hall said. A new arraignment has been scheduled for Feb. 21, he said.

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Mr. Chandra “is being held on no bail because this is a potential death penalty case,” Mr. Hall said. “That is because we have alleged a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, making him eligible for the death penalty.”

District Attorney Mike Hestrin of Riverside County will decide whether to seek the death penalty at a later date, he said.

Phone calls and messages to numbers listed for Mr. Chandra were not immediately returned on Friday night. Calls and messages on Friday to the public defender’s office, which represented him in court on Thursday, were not immediately returned.

Speaking to NBC4 in Los Angeles, a bandaged and still-healing Sergio Campusano, the driver of the Prius, said in an interview this week that he had blacked out after the driver of the Infiniti “rammed his car into my back” and his head whipped into his window.

Describing the prank, which Mr. Campusano said the group came up with during a sleepover, one of the boys was dared to “either jump into a pool at night or go ding-dong-ditch a house.”

After the boys drove away from house where the doorbell was rung, the group saw a man from the home following them, and Mr. Campusano said the other car got “really, really close.”

“I was like, ‘What is this guy doing?’” Mr. Campusano, who tried to drive away from the Infiniti, told the TV station. “Then I felt like a nudge forward, like he hit me from the back.”

 

“When he rammed us from the side, I thought, I was like, if anything happens, I love these guys,” said Mr. Campusano, who described the close-knit group of friends as “all a part of me.”

The group had been celebrating Jacob’s birthday over the weekend, the TV station reported.

 

Edited January 25, 2020 by clapclapclap

[mdmost 43330]

Of all the getaway vehicles to choose from, a 2002 Prius would not be high on my list. But I'm sure they get great gas mileage for hitting the maximum number of houses when you're ding dong ditching. 

What a bizarre story. Why couldn't the Infiniti guy just rant about the kids on Nextdoor like a normal 40 something? Now, he's looking at prison time. 

[BBQ2Bayou 807]

1 minute ago, mdmost said:

Of all the getaway vehicles to choose from, a 2002 Prius would not be high on my list. But I'm sure they get great gas mileage for hitting the maximum number of houses when you're ding dong ditching. 

What a bizarre story. Why couldn't the Infiniti guy just rant about the kids on Nextdoor like a normal 40 something? Now, he's looking at prison time. 

[TwiceHorn 31705]

Anusrag, aka bumbo raasclaat, says they were actually nagger-knocking and that it was racist and they deserved it.

Edited January 25, 2020 by TwiceHorn

[Sandman 3420]

Quote

commonly known as a ding-dong-ditch

Yeah, that's not what we called it.

[PilotsError 2338]

#thoughtsandprayers

#dosomething

[Guest Lobo]

Why do people still do this, especially to strangers? 

csb/ about two years ago, a little crew of 13-year olds did this to the homes on our street.  I was home on a Saturday night at 11:00p with the little one sleeping upstairs.  And they didn't ring the doorbell, they just pounded on the door mercilessly for 5 seconds.  By the time I got to the peephole they were gone.  Didn't feel/sound like a prank.  They came back again a few minutes later so I had a weapon at the ready, and 911 on the phone ready to dial, since I had zero idea what this was about.  This time I hear the voices of little adolescent punks running around outside so I put weapon and phone away.  Open the door and yell to see what the fuck is going on.  They come back to my driveway and explain they wait until an adult answers and they have to get a high hive or fist bump or some shit for it to count, and at some houses they just pounddoor-dong-ditch.  Then I look over at the next driveway, there's a dad in an SUV explaining that he's driving them around the neighborhood to get points for whatever their game is.  I told him he and his son and his son's friends are the dumbest fucking people I know.  Pounding on people's doors at midnight for a fucking game in Texas?  In a neighborhood where probably 2/3rds of the homes own firearms.  He tells me to relax, it's just a game, and I'm staring at him in awe of his idiocy, "How the fuck am I supposed to know that on the other side of the door and I can't see any of the boys running away?  How do I know you and your pack of roving morons are playing a game when all I hear/see is pounding on my door with my little family sleeping upstairs?"   He tells me I'm being unreasonable and not to use foul language in front of the kids.  I'd like to think somebody eventually shot that dad and the police covered it up and kept it out of the papers.  

It does seem the homeowner in this story above though, may have overreacted.  I didn't know what was on the other side of my door was, and I didn't know it was just a game at the time.  This guy had enough time to see he was just chasing a Prius full of scared teenagers.  Somewhere during the chase, you gotta calm down particularly since your person, your family, and your castle are obviously not in any danger.  

[Surly Bevo 25542]

6 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Why do people still do this, especially to strangers? 

It does seem the homeowner in this story above though, may have overreacted. 

Teenagers are kind of stupid and childish but in groups become downright morons....moose out front should have told you

MAY have overreacted?  This would have been an overreaction even if these were 3 250 lbs guys looking to bust in his house and rape him. Once they are gone from the property it's over in terms of defending against any threat(and California anyway so chances are he would have had to endure the anal rape)

Edited January 25, 2020 by Surly Bevo

[Storm the Field 5307]

17 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Somewhere during the chase, you gotta calm down particularly since your person, your family, and your castle are obviously not in any danger.  

Or, hear me out on this, maybe, just maybe, you don't hop in your car and start a chase in the first place, especially when the perpetrators are kids who just committed the unforgivable crime of ringing a doorbell and running away.

Get help, dude.

[Pato del Muerto 52958]

Since this happened in corona, it will probably go viral. 

[Storm the Field 5307]

1 hour ago, mdmost said:

Now, he's looking at prison time. 

He killed 3 kids, either on purpose or with extreme recklessness. He's doing a lot more than "looking at prison time." His life is over.

[Fuck Tim Beck 3855]

Look on the bright side. It got another prius off the road. 

[Your Mom 4884]

56 minutes ago, Lobo said:

It does seem the homeowner in this story above though, may have overreacted

May have.  Maybe.  Can't be sure.  

[Pato del Muerto 52958]

8 minutes ago, Your Mom said:

May have.  Maybe.  Can't be sure.  

We don’t know all the facts!

[Braff Zacklin 13672]

I thought doing stupid, inconsiderate things to older people (i.e., neighbors) was a teenage rite?

And honestly, this seems pretty mellow compared to the shit we used to do. These kids just rang a bell and drove off? We would TP a house, ring the bell five times, and then hoof it.

Since I'm now an "old," I realize it was a dick move, but it sure was fun at the time, especially if the angry parents/owners drove around looking for us.

Hope this guy gets some serious prison time.

[TwiceHorn 31705]

My favorite stunt of this ilk, perhaps apocryphal or mythical, is the flaming bag of dog shit.

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

He tells me I'm being unreasonable and not to use foul language in front of the kids.

"Fuck, I'm sorry, I don't want to upset your little band of motherfuckers!"

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, Storm the Field said:

Or, hear me out on this, maybe, just maybe, you don't hop in your car and start a chase in the first place, especially when the perpetrators are kids who just committed the unforgivable crime of ringing a doorbell and running away.

Get help, dude.

Obviously he should have not gotten in the car.  But he did.  That's why there's a story.  That's why there is this thread.  I'd like to see him pay dearly for this, but there's a chance he may deserve a trial without prejudice.  

[0xdeadbeef 1654]

This is one of those stories where my spidey-sense is telling me there is more to this story.

Drug Deal? Blackmail? Robbery? Something else is happening here.

[Guest Lobo]

Could be.  I mean, where was Acevedo during all this?  

[Degenerate Gardner 4104]

3 hours ago, Sandman said:

Yeah, that's not what we called it.

Agreed. And the ingrained casual racism that didn't even register as wrong then jars me every time I think about it now. Holy fuck.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Degenerate Gardner

[formermav43 4606]

56 minutes ago, 0xdeadbeef said:

This is one of those stories where my spidey-sense is telling me there is more to this story.

Drug Deal? Blackmail? Robbery? Something else is happening here.

We just had a story where a couple sued a family with a terminally ill kid over a playscape. I have no difficulty believing that this is the whole story-there are some extremely cold-hearted, narcissistic, vindictive people in this world.

Obviously he didn’t mean to kill anyone, but he also wasn’t thinking about anything aside from his own ego. I could totally see a Richard Gottleib type chasing these punks down and running them off the road to teach them a lesson.

[gsoda3 3314]

Why do people still do this, especially to strangers? 
csb/ about two years ago, a little crew of 13-year olds did this to the homes on our street.  I was home on a Saturday night at 11:00p with the little one sleeping upstairs.  And they didn't ring the doorbell, they just pounded on the door mercilessly for 5 seconds.  By the time I got to the peephole they were gone.  Didn't feel/sound like a prank.  They came back again a few minutes later so I had a weapon at the ready, and 911 on the phone ready to dial, since I had zero idea what this was about.  This time I hear the voices of little adolescent punks running around outside so I put weapon and phone away.  Open the door and yell to see what the fuck is going on.  They come back to my driveway and explain they wait until an adult answers and they have to get a high hive or fist bump or some shit for it to count, and at some houses they just pounddoor-dong-ditch.  Then I look over at the next driveway, there's a dad in an SUV explaining that he's driving them around the neighborhood to get points for whatever their game is.  I told him he and his son and his son's friends are the dumbest fucking people I know.  Pounding on people's doors at midnight for a fucking game in Texas?  In a neighborhood where probably 2/3rds of the homes own firearms.  He tells me to relax, it's just a game, and I'm staring at him in awe of his idiocy, "How the fuck am I supposed to know that on the other side of the door and I can't see any of the boys running away?  How do I know you and your pack of roving morons are playing a game when all I hear/see is pounding on my door with my little family sleeping upstairs?"   He tells me I'm being unreasonable and not to use foul language in front of the kids.  I'd like to think somebody eventually shot that dad and the police covered it up and kept it out of the papers.  
It does seem the homeowner in this story above though, may have overreacted.  I didn't know what was on the other side of my door was, and I didn't know it was just a game at the time.  This guy had enough time to see he was just chasing a Prius full of scared teenagers.  Somewhere during the chase, you gotta calm down particularly since your person, your family, and your castle are obviously not in any danger.  

You should've called the police on the dad. What an idiot.

[RDCanecutter 26570]

2 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

And honestly, this seems pretty mellow compared to the shit we used to do. These kids just rang a bell and drove off? We would TP a house, ring the bell five times, and then hoof it.

We were partial to the bottle rocket. Started out lighting and slinging individual ones, like stone age savages. Swiftly evolved to where we'd place multiple rockets in a piece of pipe, give the fuses a quick wrap together, then when you'd light it, your mini-Katyusha would pepper the front of a house and any dogs or people that ran out to intervene. We rode around in an open Jeep like Somalis in a bongo truck.

One friend, I'll call him Bazooka, he built a bazooka-looking tube that he could drop a handful of rockets  inside, and all their fuses would line up perfectly with the trigger, a Bic lighter that he had taped to the underside. The hell-fire barrage that thing put out was a thing of glory.

Bazooka grew up to be a preacher. I'm not big on church attendance, but I bet that guy could throw out a sermon.

[Coelenterate Fuccboi 13176]

These three kids won’t do that again.

[futureman 22566]

when I was 16 a buddy and I lit a long string of blackcats and dropped them through the mail slot in the door of one his old neighbors that he didn’t particularly care for.  at like 3am.  it was loud as fuck even as we were running away down the street.  thinking about it now, imagining if had happened to me, with kids in the house... I still feel bad about it. 

[Degenerate Gardner 4104]

Don't Start No Shit, Won't Be No Shit can be a hard lesson to learn. I assure you that the surviving 3 get it now.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Degenerate Gardner
what CE said

[52-80 19287]

c:\\nelson.muntz.haha.gif

[Surly Bevo 25542]

12 minutes ago, Degenerate Gardner said:

Don't Start No Shit, Won't Be No Shit can be a hard lesson to learn. I assure you that the surviving 3 get it now.

Yes yes because if anything history tells us that youth involved in mischief who see other friends pay dearly for that same mischief while they escape learn deep lessons from those events.  It's why we are so fortunate to have all but eradicated gang violence, teen pregnancies, drunken driving, suicide, drug abuse, and a whole host of other things.  

[ButtFumble 5197]

5 hours ago, Lobo said:

Why do people still do this, especially to strangers? 

csb/ about two years ago, a little crew of 13-year olds did this to the homes on our street.  I was home on a Saturday night at 11:00p with the little one sleeping upstairs.  And they didn't ring the doorbell, they just pounded on the door mercilessly for 5 seconds.  By the time I got to the peephole they were gone.  Didn't feel/sound like a prank.  They came back again a few minutes later so I had a weapon at the ready, and 911 on the phone ready to dial, since I had zero idea what this was about.  This time I hear the voices of little adolescent punks running around outside so I put weapon and phone away.  Open the door and yell to see what the fuck is going on.  They come back to my driveway and explain they wait until an adult answers and they have to get a high hive or fist bump or some shit for it to count, and at some houses they just pounddoor-dong-ditch.  Then I look over at the next driveway, there's a dad in an SUV explaining that he's driving them around the neighborhood to get points for whatever their game is.  I told him he and his son and his son's friends are the dumbest fucking people I know.  Pounding on people's doors at midnight for a fucking game in Texas?  In a neighborhood where probably 2/3rds of the homes own firearms.  He tells me to relax, it's just a game, and I'm staring at him in awe of his idiocy, "How the fuck am I supposed to know that on the other side of the door and I can't see any of the boys running away?  How do I know you and your pack of roving morons are playing a game when all I hear/see is pounding on my door with my little family sleeping upstairs?"   He tells me I'm being unreasonable and not to use foul language in front of the kids.  I'd like to think somebody eventually shot that dad and the police covered it up and kept it out of the papers.  

It does seem the homeowner in this story above though, may have overreacted.  I didn't know what was on the other side of my door was, and I didn't know it was just a game at the time.  This guy had enough time to see he was just chasing a Prius full of scared teenagers.  Somewhere during the chase, you gotta calm down particularly since your person, your family, and your castle are obviously not in any danger.  

 

need to find out where he lives and go pound on his door with a bat at 2am

I bet he would be OK with it if you told him it was for surly likes

[formermav43 4606]

22 minutes ago, Degenerate Gardner said:

Don't Start No Shit, Won't Be No Shit can be a hard lesson to learn. I assure you that the surviving 3 get it now.

Hmm...I thought the primary lesson here was killing 3 people and spending the rest of my life in jail *might* be a disproportionate response to a random knock at the door.

Its not as pithy, but I would hope most people get that.

[Brothahorn 10088]

I bet they won’t do that again.

[Brothahorn 10088]

We were partial to the bottle rocket. Started out lighting and slinging individual ones, like stone age savages. Swiftly evolved to where we'd place multiple rockets in a piece of pipe, give the fuses a quick wrap together, then when you'd light it, your mini-Katyusha would pepper the front of a house and any dogs or people that ran out to intervene. We rode around in an open Jeep like Somalis in a bongo truck.
One friend, I'll call him Bazooka, he built a bazooka-looking tube that he could drop a handful of rockets  inside, and all their fuses would line up perfectly with the trigger, a Bic lighter that he had taped to the underside. The hell-fire barrage that thing put out was a thing of glory.
Bazooka grew up to be a preacher. I'm not big on church attendance, but I bet that guy could throw out a sermon.

Honestly you guys were asking to get shot.

[RDCanecutter 26570]

Just now, Brothahorn said:

 

Honestly you guys were asking to get shot.

 

We were not smart.

[ABSR 5329]

33 minutes ago, Brothahorn said:

I bet they won’t do that again.

Next year they will go with jumping in the pool.  Well, 3 of them will.

[Cajun 11766]

6 hours ago, Sandman said:

Yeah, that's not what we called it.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Cajun

[Cajun 11766]

5 hours ago, Fuck Tim Beck said:

Look on the bright side. It got another prius off the road. 

Lock it up!

[F250 28984]

2 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

We were partial to the bottle rocket. Started out lighting and slinging individual ones, like stone age savages. Swiftly evolved to where we'd place multiple rockets in a piece of pipe, give the fuses a quick wrap together, then when you'd light it, your mini-Katyusha would pepper the front of a house and any dogs or people that ran out to intervene. We rode around in an open Jeep like Somalis in a bongo truck.

One friend, I'll call him Bazooka, he built a bazooka-looking tube that he could drop a handful of rockets  inside, and all their fuses would line up perfectly with the trigger, a Bic lighter that he had taped to the underside. The hell-fire barrage that thing put out was a thing of glory.

Bazooka grew up to be a preacher. I'm not big on church attendance, but I bet that guy could throw out a sermon.

We did this too including the bottle rocket bazooka. Things started to get sketchy when a friend showed up with those Mexican paper triangle firecrackers, not the small ones but the big ones. The boom they made when going off in someone's mailbox was pretty damn loud. Eventually one guy escalated things with small pipe bombs which freaked most of us out. The pipe bomber ended up at West Point and eventually an Armor officer which surprised no one.

[immortal13 4059]

6 hours ago, Lobo said:

Why do people still do this, especially to strangers? 

csb/ about two years ago, a little crew of 13-year olds did this to the homes on our street.  I was home on a Saturday night at 11:00p with the little one sleeping upstairs.  And they didn't ring the doorbell, they just pounded on the door mercilessly for 5 seconds.  By the time I got to the peephole they were gone.  Didn't feel/sound like a prank.  They came back again a few minutes later so I had a weapon at the ready, and 911 on the phone ready to dial, since I had zero idea what this was about.  This time I hear the voices of little adolescent punks running around outside so I put weapon and phone away.  Open the door and yell to see what the fuck is going on.  They come back to my driveway and explain they wait until an adult answers and they have to get a high hive or fist bump or some shit for it to count, and at some houses they just pounddoor-dong-ditch.  Then I look over at the next driveway, there's a dad in an SUV explaining that he's driving them around the neighborhood to get points for whatever their game is.  I told him he and his son and his son's friends are the dumbest fucking people I know.  Pounding on people's doors at midnight for a fucking game in Texas?  In a neighborhood where probably 2/3rds of the homes own firearms.  He tells me to relax, it's just a game, and I'm staring at him in awe of his idiocy, "How the fuck am I supposed to know that on the other side of the door and I can't see any of the boys running away?  How do I know you and your pack of roving morons are playing a game when all I hear/see is pounding on my door with my little family sleeping upstairs?"   He tells me I'm being unreasonable and not to use foul language in front of the kids.  I'd like to think somebody eventually shot that dad and the police covered it up and kept it out of the papers.  

It does seem the homeowner in this story above though, may have overreacted.  I didn't know what was on the other side of my door was, and I didn't know it was just a game at the time.  This guy had enough time to see he was just chasing a Prius full of scared teenagers.  Somewhere during the chase, you gotta calm down particularly since your person, your family, and your castle are obviously not in any danger.  

Sorry for partying

[WBT 20775]

2002 prius?  Those have been around almost 20 years?

[Degenerate Gardner 4104]

1 hour ago, formermav43 said:

Hmm...I thought the primary lesson here was killing 3 people and spending the rest of my life in jail *might* be a disproportionate response to a random knock at the door.

Its not as pithy, but I would hope most people get that.

There's a reason you qualify it as a primary lesson: there's more than one. I too would hope most people understand that it's a disproportionate response, senseless tragedy, etc etc but that's already been said. I don't feel the need to moralize or conform to a simplistic narrative. Compassion is warranted, as is recognition that over time most of us learn not to touch a hot stove. My pith honors your grasp of complexities.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Degenerate Gardner

[formermav43 4606]

Speaking of simplistic narratives: you don’t touch a hot stove because it can burn you, not because it might unleash a fireball that consumes your whole house.

[Tailgate 3027]

Seriously feel bad for these kids and their families. Pretty fucked up all the way around.

The irony of the “Trilogy” sign on the brick wall behind the car is pure Stephen King.

[RDCanecutter 26570]

6 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

Speaking of simplistic narratives: you don’t touch a hot stove because it can burn you, not because it might unleash a fireball that consumes your whole house.

Though that fireball stove would be awesome during the holidays.

[Degenerate Gardner 4104]

22 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

Speaking of simplistic narratives: you don’t touch a hot stove because it can burn you, not because it might unleash a fireball that consumes your whole house.

Yet both are consequences of a voluntary action, touching a stove. They vary in degree and certainty of occurring, yes. I'm not sure what your hissy fit is about here. Through sometimes harsh experience we learn to mitigate unnecessary risk. Descending en masse to a stranger's dark door is inherently risky, like giving Mia Wallace a foot massage.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Degenerate Gardner

[formermav43 4606]

My “hissy fit” is because “don’t start no shit, won’t be no shit” is in no way a lesson to take from this. I’m not sure I would characterize ringing someone’s doorbell and running away as “starting shit”; I certainly would argue that death is a foreseeable consequence of that.

And you clearly don’t REALLY believe that yourself, or else you wouldn’t be arguing with me. I mean, I might be so deranged that I track you down and kill you. Pretty remote odds, sure-but I’d think the odds of being murdered as a consequence of a practical joke are remote too. 

Pontificating about mitigating risk here isn’t rooted in what happened. It’s just playing Devil’s Advocate for its own sake. 

[Degenerate Gardner 4104]

31 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

My “hissy fit” is because “don’t start no shit, won’t be no shit” is in no way a lesson to take from this. I’m not sure I would characterize ringing someone’s doorbell and running away as “starting shit”; I certainly would argue that death is a foreseeable consequence of that.

And you clearly don’t REALLY believe that yourself, or else you wouldn’t be arguing with me. I mean, I might be so deranged that I track you down and kill you. Pretty remote odds, sure-but I’d think the odds of being murdered as a consequence of a practical joke are remote too. 

Pontificating about mitigating risk here isn’t rooted in what happened. It’s just playing Devil’s Advocate for its own sake. 

I don't think you're that deranged. I do find the arguing tiresome though as I do your need to exert editorial control over pith and pontification. Feel free to ignore me in the future.

Edited January 26, 2020 by Degenerate Gardner

[Nivek 17076]

6 kids in that little car? Man to be a teenager again...

[El Diablo 4232]

Six boys between the ages of 13 and 18 having a sleepover? They picked the wrong door to knock on.

 

[Homesickhorn 2213]

Descending en masse to a stranger's dark door is inherently risky, like giving Mia Wallace a foot massage.

Well, I’m pretty sure that out of the surviving three, at least one of them has developed a bit of a speech impediment.