Driver who hit Oklahoma runners gets 3rd manslaughter charge

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — A man accused of striking a group of suburban Oklahoma City high school cross-country athletes with his speeding pickup truck faces an additional manslaughter charge after the death of a third student.

Prosecutors on Tuesday filed a third charge of manslaughter against 57-year-old Max Leroy Townsend, in addition to a third count of leaving the scene of a fatality accident. Kolby Crum, 18, died Saturday.

Police have said Townsend was going 79 mph (127 kph) in a 25 mph (40 kph) zone on Feb. 3 in Moore when he crossed two lanes of traffic onto the sidewalk and struck seven Moore High School students.

Rachel Freeman, 17, died on the day of the crash and Yuridia Martinez, 16, died the next day.

Townsend was charged earlier this month with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of leaving the scene of a fatality accident in addition to several counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury.

Townsend remained in jail Tuesday on $1.2 million bond. Court records do not list an attorney who could speak on Townsend’s behalf.

The day before the crash, Townsend’s 28-year-old son was killed in a multi-vehicle auto accident in Moore.