Teens charged in dropped sandbag death

Man, 22, struck and killed after object fell from overpass

Four teenagers have been charged with murder in Ohio after a man in a car was struck and killed by a sandbag that had been dropped from an overpass, authorities said.

Lori Olender, deputy chief of the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, said that the four teens — three 13year-olds and one14-year-old — were charged with murder and two counts of vehicular vandalism for the Dec.19 incident, which fatally injured Marquise Byrd.

The teenagers were arraigned on Wednesday and were being held in a juvenile detention facility, Olender said.

The Washington Post generally does not identify suspects charged in juvenile court.

Byrd, 22, of Warren, Mich., was in the front passenger seat of a car travelling south on Interstate 75 through Toledo around 10 p.m. when a construction sandbag crashed through the car’s windshield and struck him, the Toledo Police Department said. The driver of the car was not injured.

The teenagers were seen leaving the overpass near the incident after the vehicle was struck, police said.

Byrd was taken to the hospital after the incident in critical condition. He died three days later from bluntforce trauma to his head and neck, authorities said.

Byrd’s cousin, Shaveontae King, told the Toledo Blade that the 22-year-old was engaged to be married and had a 1-year-old son. He had been on his way to meet friends in Toledo. “Young, energetic, outgoing, lovable,” King said about Byrd.

“My auntie has to bury her son. He’s gone. He’s never coming back,” King said. “She’s holding up the best she can.”