Police: 20-year-old man arrested in Phoenix crash that killed 63-year-old, impairment suspected
A 20-year-old man was charged with murder after a crash that killed a 63-year-old man near 37th and Grand avenues in Phoenix on Wednesday morning, officials said.
Richard Anderson was traveling east on Grand Avenue in a sedan when two officers spotted him driving "at an extremely high rate of speed" from a private driveway, court documents stated.
Officers checked Anderson's speed on radar, which showed he was driving approximately 145 miles per hour both times they checked, arrest documents stated.
He crashed into an SUV in the intersection at around 11 a.m., Phoenix Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Andy Williams said.
The impact of the collision caused the sedan to roll over and crash into a pole before the vehicle came to rest on the street, arrest documents stated.
The driver of the SUV, later identified as 63-year-old Dion Kelly, was pronounced dead at the scene. Both vehicles had an adult female passenger, and both women had non-life-threatening injuries, Williams said.
Anderson did not have serious injuries. Williams said he was processed for DUI "based on observations and information investigators learned during the incident," but that the blood test results would "take some time to come back."
In an interview with police, Anderson admitted he had been driving around 130 miles per hour at the time of the collision.
He also told police that he had been smoking a vape pen that contained THC a couple of hours before the collision occurred. According to Anderson, the reason why he was driving his vehicle at such a high speed was to check the mechanical work that had been completed on his vehicle the morning before the collision.
The vape pen was located on his person after police completed a search.
A urine test completed later indicated that Anderson had THC in his urine, arrest documents stated.
He was booked into a Maricopa County jail on suspicion of one count of murder in the second degree and two counts of endangerment, Williams said.
A preliminary hearing has been set for Feb. 4. His bond was set at $300,000.
Reach the reporter at bfrank@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8529. Follow her on Twitter @brieannafrank.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 20-year-old arrested in Phoenix crash that killed Dion Kelly
