Steve Jefferson/Eyewitness News
Anderson, Dec. 17 - The Madison County prosecutor plans to charge the 17-year-old driver involved in a deadly crash with one count of reckless homicide and two counts of criminal recklessness. Thirteen-year-old Aaron brown died in the crash.
"Clearly reckless irresponsible behavior, it wasn't an accident resulting from unavoidable consequences." Prosecutor Rodney J. Cummings believes the wreck is a copycat act from the stunt show called Jackass.
Investigators found a video of the show inside the van along with video of stunts performed by the driver and his friends.
One of the copycat stunts was a rooftop wrestling match involving the brother of 13-year-old victim.
Cummings says, "You see this wild and crazy behavior and people get up and walk away from it. But unfortunately sometimes kids don't get up and walk away."
In the probable cause about the crash, prosecutors say the 17-year-old openly admitted to driving excessively fast, around 60 to 70 m.p.h. across the railroad tracks.
The teenager also admitted to almost hitting a bicyclist on the first pass across the tracks.
But the deadly crash is just one copycat stunt blamed on the show jackass.
This week in Albuquerque, New Mexico a 15-year-old boy was thrown, run-over and dragged after jumping on the hood of a friend's moving car.
November 21st in Tiffin, Ohio a student died during a Jackass copycat stunt.
On October 31st a golf cart stunt was caught on tape by surveillance cameras in Denver, Colorado.
And in January of 2001 stunt copycats in Boston, Massachusetts set their friend on fire.
With one Anderson teenager dead, prosecutors believe the stunt show producers clearly have a bigger responsibility than entertainment.
Cummings asks parents, "Please, try to do as much as you can to discourage kids from doing these kind of things on their own."
