Indian-origin man in US gets life term for killing 3 boys in a car crash over ‘doorbell’ prank

Representational Image. ANI

An Indian-origin man has been sentence to life imprisonment, following his conviction on murder charges for deliberately ramming the car of teens who had played a doorbell-ringing prank at his house in 2020.

According to the reports,the incident claimed lives of three teenage boys and three others were injured after they were struck by a car driven by Anurag Chandra, and the vehicle they were in careened off the roadway and into a pole in Riverside County, reported NBC news.

Anurag Chandra, a Riverside County resident, was found guilty of three counts of attempted murder and three counts of first-degree murder.

The investigation revealed that the 45 year-old man had intentionally crashed his car into the vehicle carrying the youngsters.

The six teens were in a 2002 Toyota Prius car that was forced off the road by Chandra, resulting in the car slamming into a tree on the east side of the roadway.

Chandra left the scene of the crash and returned home without reporting what occurred.

Daniel Hawkins, Jacob Ivascu, and Drake Ruiz, all 16, were killed. The 18-year-old driver of the Prius as well as two other boys ages 13 and 14, were injured but survived.

The release said that the boys were having a sleepover and ultimately dared one of the friends to do a “doorbell ditch,” so they drove to a nearby house, according to an investigation by the California Highway Patrol.

Once there, one of the boys rang the doorbell of a home on Modjeska Summit Road and ran back to their car.

Chandra, who lived at the home, chased after the boys’ vehicle in his own car.

As Chandra pursued the victims, he re-ended the Prius and sideswiped their vehicle until they were forced to stop.