The 2017 Interstate 75 rock-throwing incidents were a series of rock and sandbag throwing incidents from two highway overpasses by teenagers along Interstate 75 that caused two deaths in separate incidents in 2017: one in Michigan and one in Ohio.
Kenneth White, 32, was killed on October 18, 2017, when a rock thrown by a group of five teenage vandals crashed through the windshield of the van he was riding in on Interstate 75 in Michigan, in Vienna Township, north of Detroit. Other cars were also damaged by rocks a group of four boys were throwing. All of the teenagers were from the Clio, Michigan area.
Incident
The teenagers confessed to having thrown multiple rocks at cars driving south on I-75 from their position on the Dodge Road overpass in Vienna Township. They also confessed to playing a game called "overpassers" where hitting a car, which was called a "dinger" earned points. They competed in this for money. The five teenagers had gathered large rocks, one weighing, from a dead-end street in Vienna Township, loading them into the flatbed of a pickup truck, before driving to the overpass where they were dropped onto cars as they passed below.
Arrest of the teens involved
After hitting the car, the teens fled the scene and ate at a local fast food restaurant. The next day, one of the teens were questioned at school but were released. On Friday, October 19, upon hearing about the victim's death, the 5 teens exchanged text messages, including ones that said "We could go to prison for life for this, everyone lay low and no one rat us out!" and "No one saw us, if everyone shuts up we won't get caught." The next day, October 20, the police identified the vehicle in which the teens fled. After identifying the owner, the police also sought evidence of who was inside it that night. After reviewing camera footage from the fast food restaurant where the teens ate, the police identified the five teens. The following day, Sunday, October 21, the police contacted the families of the five teens involved, informing them that warrants were out for their arrest. Since they were juveniles, the teens weren't arrested, but were instead told that they would have to surrender to the police by 10PM that day. Kyle Anger, the mastermind behind the crime, reportedly attended church that day and had dinner at a restaurant with his family before surrendering to the police. All of the teens surrendered to the police by 8PM that day.
Victim
The victim, 32-year-old Kenneth White, was seated in the passenger seat. White, a construction worker, was riding with a co-worker. The rock fractured his skull, chest, and caused other facial injuries. He left behind his fiancée and four children, the youngest being five years old.
Trial and convictions
The teenagers throwing rocks that night were arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Four of the five teenagers, who were part of the group throwing rocks at cars driving on Interstate 75 that night accepted plea deals to a reduced charge of manslaughter. In 2019, the judge rejected the plea deal and ordered that the four be sentenced as adults. The individual who threw the rock that killed White pled guilty to second degree murder. He received a sentence of 39 months to 20 years in prison, with credit for 740 days already served.
Ohio rock throwing death
Marquise Byrd, 22, a resident of Warren, Michigan, was killed on Interstate 75 near Toledo, Ohio when four teenagers dropped a sandbag from a bridge onto the car in which he was a passenger. The boys were crossing the highway on a bridge when they noticed rocks lying on the bridge, and decided to throw them at passing cars, and also threw two sandbags, running away when the second sandbag made a loud sound as it hit a vehicle. After Byrd's death, one of the teenagers, a thirteen-year-old, confessed to throwing the sandbag that killed Byrd. Press reports compared Byrd's death to the death of Kenneth White two months earlier on the same interstate highway.
Victim
The victim, 22-year-old Marquise Byrd, was seated in the passenger seat.
Legal proceedings
The judge in the case, Denise Navarre Cubbon, initially sentenced the four teenagers to serve time at the Department of Youth Services. She sentenced three of the teenagers to serve terms of four years, and for the thirteen-year-old throwing the sandbag to serve until he turned 21. However, she suspended those sentences in favor of brief terms in the Lucas County Youth Treatment Center in the hope that clemency would prepare them to go on to lead productive lives.
Impact
As a result of this crime, fencing was installed along the overpass from which the sandbag was thrown to prevent future attacks. Furthermore, Ohio began to require fencing on highway overpasses to prevent deaths and injuries caused by youths throwing rocks at vehicles.
