While Henry Michael Gevorgyan has been charged with two counts of murder in the wake of a Los Angeles street racing crash that killed two people, his lawyer and defenders on social media say he wasn't the one driving the Mustang that lost control and plowed into a crowd of people.
Gevorgyan, 21, surrendered to police on Sunday and has been booked on two counts of murder and one count of engaging in a motor vehicle speed contest on a highway causing a concussion. Bail was set at $2 million.
Police say Gevorgyan's gray Mustang, which he featured prominently on his Facebook page, spun out during an early morning race against a Nissan GT-R and crashed into a crowd of spectators, killing Eric Siguenza, 26, and Wilson Thomas Wong, 50, and injuring 21-year-old Luis Antonio Gonzalez.
But according to his attorney, Kate Hardie, Gevorgyan wasn't the one behind the wheel of the Mustang when it crashed. Hardie said he was trying to do the right thing by turning himself in, which police called on him to do. From NBC Los Angeles:
She said she didn't know who was behind the wheel and advised her client not to talk. Hardie said cellphone video shows her client standing on the street between the two vehicles at the starting line.
"Charging him with murder for just being there is a stretch," she said.
Hardie's comments echo those made by people on Twitter over the past few days who claim that Gevorgyan — or at the very least, someone who looks a lot like him — was between the Mustang and the GT-R signaling for them to go.
Which prompts the question: if Gevorgyan really wasn't the driver of the Mustang, then who was? It's not clear how the case will proceed from here, but Gevorgyan has already been charged. Police continue to seek the driver of the GT-R.
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