Man faces vehicular-homicide charge after crash kills 31-year-old

A Lakeland man is facing charges after a crash that killed a 31-year-old Friday night, police said.

Antonio Jones Jr., 20, will be charged with vehicular homicide, grand-theft auto and burglary. Jones is under guard at Lakeland Regional Medical Center, where he is recovering from crash injuries, Lakeland police Sgt. Gary Gross said. Once he is released from the hospital, he will be held in Polk County jail without bond. The owner of the SUV Jones is accused of crashing, a beige 2005 Buick Rendezvous, reported the car stolen Friday morning. That evening, around 7:30, a Polk County deputy spotted the SUV speeding down Galloway Road, police records show. The deputy tried to follow the SUV and pull over the driver but had to wait for a break in traffic, sheriff ’s spokeswoman Carrie Horstman said Saturday. The deputy lost sight of the SUV without getting a tag number and returned to the intersection where he was conducting traffic, Horstman said. Police said Jones was behind the wheel of the SUV carrying five passengers, ages 14, 16, 17, 18, and 19. He kept speeding down Galloway Road, passing cars on both sides, police said.

Near the 200 block of Galloway Road, he tried to pass a box truck on the roadside grass and lost control of the SUV, hitting a Toyota 4Runner almost headon, police said. The driver of the Toyota, 31-year-old Matthew John Smith of Lakeland, was pronounced dead at the scene. All six people in the Buick were injured as well.

Jones and four of the five people in the SUV with him are documented members of the Ratchet Boyz gang, records show. The youngest person in the vehicle, a 14-year-old, has no known gang affiliation and was catching a ride with Jones from a park to a gas station, police said. None of the passengers has been charged. Police found a loaded handgun in the pocket of one of the people in the car but have not filed charges against anyone for illegal possession of it, Gross said.