Police: Man was racing when he crashed, killed two boys
Pickup driver arrested, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
An 18-year-old man arrested in the deaths of two young stepbrothers in a car crash last week in Cedar Park was racing when the wreck happened, police said Thursday.
Hayden Michael Hammer was arrested and charged Thursday with two counts of racing on a highway causing death, a second-degree felony, Cedar Park police Cmdr. Bryan Wukasch said Thursday. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Hammer, who was driving a Dodge Ram pickup, was racing another truck in the westbound lanes of West Whitestone Boulevard before crashing into a Nissan SUV that was turning left onto Walton Way at 3:45 p.m. Jan. 10, police said.
Two stepbrothers inside the SUV, 8-year old Elijah Chaudhary and 1-year-old Daniel Chaudhary, died at the scene. The driver of the SUV, Zara Salman, 31, remains in a coma in critical condition at a hospital. She is the mother of the 1-year-old and the stepmother of the 8-year-old, police said.
“Video and audio surveillance was obtained from a business in the 200 block of West Whitestone Boulevard and clearly shows a black Dodge Ram truck driven by Mr. Hammer racing a red or maroon Ford truck westbound on West Whitestone Boulevard moments before the impact,” Wukasch said. “This video is consistent with reports of engine acceleration just prior to the collision.”
Hammer admitted to police during an interview that he was “drag racing” the other truck when the wreck happened, Wukasch said. He said Hammer