The mothers of the suspects in a deadly hit-and-run in Las Vegas have given very different reactions to what happened.
According to local outlet KLAS-TV, Jesus Ayala, 18, and Jzamir Keys, 16, are facing charges relating to the hit-and-run death of a retired southern California police chief.
On Aug. 14, Ayala and Keys were riding in a car when they allegedly intentionally served to hit Andreas “Andy” Probst, 64, a retired police chief from Bell, California. Probst was taken to the hospital and later pronounced dead.
Police have identified Ayala, who was 17 at the time of the incident, as the driver of the vehicle, and have identified Keys as the passenger who took a video of the incident.
The teens are also charged with stealing four cars that same day, and hitting and injuring another person. The video also appears to show them hitting another car soon after hitting Probst.
Now, the mothers of both Ayala and Keys have spoken out about the serious charges facing their sons, and they have quite different views of the situation.
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In a statement to KTLA-TV, Ayala’s mother showed remorse over the incident, wondering if there was any way back for her son after being involved in a horrific incident like this.
“I don’t know why he did this,” she said. “I don’t know if God can forgive this.”
Keys’ mother, on the other hand, tried to absolve her son of any blame for the incident, claiming that the charges were the result of lies by the media and that the truth would come out in court.
“My son’s side of the story will be told, ‘the truth,’ not the inaccuracies the media will try to portray,” she said in a text message to KLAS. Keys’ mother has a troubled history herself, however, having once faced charges of child abuse and neglect, according to KLAS. “She later withdrew her plea after she successfully completed terms of probation and received a conviction for misdemeanor disorderly conduct,” according to the outlet.
In a sense, Keys’ mother is right. The justice system stipulates that her son is innocent until proven guilty, and he has the right to a fair trial, where he will get to tell people his side of the story.
Ayala and Keys will have their day in court and will get a chance to defend themselves, and that is their right. But it is ridiculous to claim that these charges are only being brought against them because of media lies.
The evidence against her son is really damming. There is a video that appears to show him and Ayala purposely hitting the man before laughing about it and speeding away.
Granted, Keys was not driving the car at the time, but he still reportedly took the video, laughed about it and did nothing to stop his friend from doing it. That would make him complicit in the murder.
I understand that there is widespread distrust of the media these days and that the legacy media is not the most honest institution in the world, but in this case, the evidence appears to be overwhelming.
Overall, this is a very sad situation for all involved. The Probst family lost a loved one, and the mothers of Ayala and Keys will likely see their sons spend a long time behind bars.
It makes perfect sense why a mother would want to defend her son in this situation, but it is going to be hard to defend that position in court.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
