ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Another teenager has been caught in connection with the hit-and-run death of a local cyclist. This is a sad and scary case that has shaken Albuquerque. Physicist Scott Dwight Habermehl, 63, was hit and killed while riding his bike to work at Sandia National Laboratories earlier this year.
The fourth person suspected in the May 2024 event was arrested on Wednesday. This has made the city more worried about juvenile crime. The teen, who was 15 at the time of the crash, is being charged with several crimes, including murder, for attacking Habermehl on purpose.
Three more suspects have already been caught in connection with the case. One of them was revealed to be only 11 years old, which was shock. The other two are teens, but the fact that such young people are involved in such a big crime has made both the police and the people who live in the area very worried.
A key video came out, which led to the break in the case. The terrifying moment when Habermehl was hit by the car was caught on video from inside the stolen car. The video went viral on social media, and earlier this year, concerned people, including the director of a middle school, told police about it. The video quickly became an important piece of evidence for police as they tried to figure out what happened.
Crime scene investigators said they were able to identify the fourth suspect because many people recognized his voice in the video. When asked by cops, the teen at first denied having anything to do with it. Investigators quickly found out that he had been lying when they found out that he had been talking to his friends on social media about the crime and the police investigation. This information led to his arrest in the end.
The hit-and-run that killed someone has gotten a lot of attention, both because it was so sad and because it looks like the young people involved planned the attack ahead of time. The case has brought up the issue of youth crime in New Mexico again, and politicians on both sides of the aisle are calling for quick action. A number of Republican lawmakers and prosecutors, as well as Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, have voiced worries about the rising number of violent crimes committed by minors in the state.
The governor has openly acknowledged the problem and promised to do something about it, but she hasn’t called a special session of the legislature to talk about possible changes yet. There has been a lot of pressure on the state’s government, which is currently run by Democrats, to do something, especially after high-profile events like this one. Even though there has been a lot of public outrage, no new laws have been proposed that would directly target juvenile offenders.
People in Albuquerque are still deeply affected by the sad death of Scott Habermehl, especially those who knew him from his work as a respected physicist at Sandia National Laboratories. It’s clear that his family and coworkers are very sad about his death and want justice to be done.
As the probe goes on, the case is a stark reminder of how worried people are about juvenile crime in New Mexico. When such young people are involved in violent crimes, it makes it hard to know who is responsible and whether the state can handle these problems before they get worse. People in the community are still upset about the death of a well-known and loved person, and they are now looking to the court system to hold those responsible accountable and stop more tragedies.
