Thirty-two-year-old Kenneth Andrew White of Mount Morris Township, Michigan, was minding his own business. He was in the passenger seat of a van heading south on Interstate 75 when a large rock suddenly fell from the sky. The boulder crashed into the windshield and struck White in the chest and head. Although he was rushed to a nearby medical center, the Michigan healthcare professionals were not able to revive him and were forced to declare the father of five dead at the hospital.
When White was struck by the falling rock from the overpass, four other vehicles had reported the same problem and were waiting for police to arrive. There was a group of five teenagers on the overpass who had collected rocks so they could throw them down on the moving vehicles on the interstate beneath. The five teens, all of whom are white, were arrested and charged with second-degree murder for killing White with a large rock.
In addition to the second-degree murder charge, the five teenage boys – 17-year-old Kyle Anger, 16-year-old Mark Sekelsky, 16-year-old Mikadyn Payne, 15-year-old Trevor Gray, and 15-year-old Alexander Miller – were also charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and six felony counts of malicious destruction of property.
Michigan authorities want to try irresponsible teenagers as adults. If that happens, the teens could face up to life in prison for murdering White that day in Michigan. While the teenagers and their parents want Michigan authorities to go easy on the boys, the prosecution and local law enforcement do not see any fun in the “prank” gone wrong.
“It’s not a prank,” Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell told WDIV. “I don’t think anybody’s laughing. You make a bad decision; you could be spending the rest of your life in prison.”
After tossing the rocks from the overpass and killing White in the process, the teens went to a local McDonald’s to celebrate their success. Meanwhile, local authorities set out to hunt down the teenagers responsible for tossing the rocks off the overpass. One of the teens turned himself in to authorities and confessed to the crime. After that teen turned himself in, the other teens were arrested in short order.
The teens threw at least twenty rocks and a loose tire from the overpass. They were throwing these objects at cars that were traveling at 70 miles per hour.
Meanwhile, White’s family and his widow are stunned by the death. His fiance, Amy Cagle, told reporters about what she had to say to White’s five-year-old son when the little child asked when daddy would be coming home. It was tragic.
“He was a good man and a good father,” Cagle said. “For some senseless act, for it to be just a rock, just to take him so soon. He took away a child’s father and the love of my life. His stupid act took away a life.”
White’s sister, Alicia Waskoski, also commented: “I just don’t understand what a person could be thinking to even want to do something like that. To know they’re putting lives in danger by just throwing rocks over the overpass.”