Rock Hill teen charged with DUI after truck crash with lawnmower leaves 2 people dead
A Rock Hill teen has been charged with DUI after two people were killed in a weekend collision that involved a truck and a lawnmower, officials said.
2 killed over the weekend in York County when truck collides with lawn mower
Another child also was injured in the collision, officials said.
Christopher Matthew Mullis, 19, is charged with two counts of felony DUI resulting in death, and one count of felony DUI with bodily injury, according to the S.C. Highway Patrol, lawyers in the case, and court records.
Mullis is accused of being the driver of a pickup truck that struck a lawnmower around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night off Homestead Road in York County, said Cpl. David Jones of the highway patrol.
A passenger in the truck Mullis was driving died after being ejected, Jones said. The driver of the lawnmower was killed and a juvenile also on the lawnmower was hurt, Jones said.
A teen and adult dead, another child hurt
The passenger in the truck who later died has been identified as Jessie Purser, 13, of Richburg in Chester County, according to York County Coroner Sabrina Gast. Jessie Purser died at Piedmont Medical Center, Gast said.
Gast identified the male lawnmower driver who died as Christopher Kernaghan, 32, of Rock Hill. Kernaghan was cutting grass when the collision happened, Gast said.
The juvenile on the lawnmower who was hurt has not been identified. That child was taken to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, Jones said.
Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett, York County’s top prosecutor, said after a court hearing for Mullis on Monday that the injured child on the lawnmower is 3 years old and remains in critical condition.
Suspect denied bail
Each charge of DUI resulting in death carries a potential punishment of up to 25 years for a conviction, South Carolina law states.
Mullis was denied bail Monday afternoon by a magistrate judge in a court hearing Mullis was served with the three arrest warrants, according to his lawyer, prosecutors, and court records.
Brackett said after court that the seriousness of the charges demand that the suspect remain in custody.
Montrio Belton, Mullis’s lawyer, said after the court that Mullis is “cloaked in the presumption of innocence under the law.”
Belton said the young teen who died in the crash is Mullis’s cousin.
“This is absolutely tragic for all involved,” Belton said.
What happens now?
Mullis remains in the York County jail. Belton said he would ask for a bond hearing for Mullis in front of a South Carolina circuit court judge at a later date.
