A Michigan teenager warned her best friend to slow down before the fatal high-speed crash that killed her, authorities and reports say.
Ella Vece, 19, was traveling about 100 miles per hour in 18-year-old Nevaeh Downs’ Volkswagen Jetta on Thanksgiving night when they attempted to jump a hill in Kent County, Michigan. The vehicle left the road and crashed into a tree, according to the Kent County Sheriff’s Office and media reports.
Vece was also seriously injured in the incident.
“These are kids doing stupid things,” Kent County Prosecutor Christopher R. Becker told the Post. “And it ended in tragedy.”
A recording from the scene captured Downs warning Vece to slow down because there was an oncoming vehicle, the prosecutor said. “Maybe it distracted her,” Becker added.
Downs, a recent high school graduate, was a “thoughtful, strong and caring” person, according to an online obituary and a GoFundMe page to establish a scholarship fund in her name at Grand Rapids Community College, where she was a student.
Vece was charged with reckless driving resulting in death, a felony, but pleaded to moving violation resulting in death, which is a misdemeanor, according to Becker. She is expected to be sentenced in June and could serve up to a year in prison if convicted.
“The victim’s family didn’t want us to prosecute,” Becker said.
Downs’ family considered Vece “like a daughter to them,” he said. Still, the prosecutor said his office must “hold her accountable one way or another.”
As part of his plea deal, Vece lost his license for a year.
According to Becker, the hill they were trying to cross has been the scene of several deaths in recent years.
Vece’s lawyer could not immediately be reached.
New York Post
