Teen driver targeted bicyclists in S.C., sheriff says

Nathaniel Cary | The Greenville (S.C.) News

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Authorities say a 16-year-old South Carolina boy faces six attempted-murder charges for targeting bicyclists as revenge for the deaths of two of his friends in a car wreck last December.

The Greenville County Sheriff's Office says the Travelers Rest boy tried to run bicyclists off the road or strike them with his car, shot fireworks at them and taunted them.

Investigators allege that incidents took place in northern Greenville County in and around the city of Travelers Rest between December and April, said Jonathan Smith, Sheriff's Office spokesman.

In addition to six attempted murder charges, the juvenile also faces two charges of assault and battery, two charges of assault and battery third degree, two charges of throwing fireworks from a vehicle and 11 charges of taunting a cyclist, Smith said.

There are seven different active cases with 11 victims to date, Smith said.

A parent brought the boy to the Law Enforcement Center last Friday and the boy remains in custody, he said.

The Sheriff's Office declined to release warrants because the boy is being charged as a juvenile.

After a number of incidents in which the driver of a black Hyundai Tiburon tried to hit cyclists or force them off the road, members of the Greenville Spinners Bicycle Club began to alert one another and posted several messages on Facebook to be on the lookout for the vehicle, Smith said.

A deputy got in touch with the president of the Spinners to investigate, Smith said. The investigator, Deputy Will Richtor, learned that there had been a lengthy pattern of assaults involving the same vehicle in the northern part of the county, Smith said.

Both male and female victims told investigators a male spit at them and threw drinks or lit fireworks at them as well as verbal assaults, he said.

Smith said the suspect began to target cyclists after two of his friends, Timothy Michael Arrowood, 19, and Josey Macala Cox, 17, who had both been students at Travelers Rest High School, died in a car wreck in December.

"This kid feels like the bicyclists were the ones who caused the wreck and for whatever reason he's trying to take it out on all bicyclists," Smith said.

Cyclists weren't responsible for that wreck, Smith said.