Police: 15-Year-Old Dies When Group Steals Maserati, Crashes in Florida

A 15-year-old died when a group allegedly stole a Maserati and crashed it early Sunday in Florida.

According to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, 15-year-old Keondrick Lang, 15-year-old Mario Bonilla, and 16-year-old Malachi Daniels had been looking for unlocked cars in the Saint Petersburg area, Insider reported Sunday.

The group apparently located an unlocked Maserati with the keys still inside the vehicle.

Gualtieri detailed what happened during a press conference near where the crash site lay across the street beyond him:

When the group found the car, Lang reportedly took the driver’s seat while Bonilla and Daniels also got inside.

“Officers spotted the teens from a helicopter that had been investigating a different case and alerted deputies on the ground to a possible vehicle theft, according to the sheriff’s office,” the article said.

However, they eventually saw the officers and sped away. Deputies patrolling the streets tried to stop them but the car reached over 80 miles per hour and was not pursued.

Lang lost control, and the vehicle crashed, flipping upside down.

Video footage shows the totaled vehicle sitting outside a business with debris scattered around it:

FATAL CRASH: Pinellas Co. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri will hold a press conference at 10AM to discuss a fatal crash involving a stolen vehicle and three male juveniles. As you can see, the car is unrecognizable. More updates to come. pic.twitter.com/QFyBYWCuDb

— Regina Gonzalez FOX 13 (@ReginaGFOX13) October 2, 2022

Officials pronounced Bonilla dead at the scene while Daniels was transported to a hospital. However, he was not expected to recover.

In addition, Lang suffered critical but non life-threatening injuries, per Gualtieri.

The Insider report continued:

The sheriff added that the teens did not have extensive criminal histories, but they had previously been stopped together by Kenneth City police while they were walking through a neighborhood “at 4 am, all wearing black hoodies, faces covered, walking through a residential area,” Gualtieri said. At the time of that incident in September, police took down the teens’ information and called their parents.

While speaking about the young people’s actions, Gualtieri noted, “these are crimes of opportunity.”

Meanwhile, a CBS News poll in April revealed only 39 percent of American citizens approved of how President Joe Biden (D) has handled the crime wave plaguing the nation, per Breitbart News.

Crime has increased under his leadership, and “[a]ccording to the Council on Criminal Justice, crime grew five percent in 2021 from 2020, which represents an additional 218 murders in 22 cities. Crime in 2021 was also 44 percent higher than it was in 2019,” the outlet said at the time.

In addition, a mere 39 percent of registered voters approve of Biden as the midterm elections approach, a Civiqs poll released Monday found.