RIVERSIDE, CA (TIP): : An Indian American man who killed three teens by ramming their car off the road after they played a doorbell prank on him has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In April, Anurag Chandra, 45, was found guilty by a jury on three counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders in January 2020, according to a news release from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
“The lives of countless families will never be the same because of one man’s anger, callousness and outrageous conduct, and I am grateful to Judge Navarro for imposing the maximum sentence in this case,” District Attorney Mike Hestrin said during the sentencing on Friday.
On the night of Jan 19, 2020, the teens were having a sleepover and one of them was dared to play a prank commonly known as Ding-Dong Ditch.
One of the victims’ mother told the media that they were celebrating a birthday and played the prank on the home of another teenager they thought lived there.
According to an investigation by the California Highway Patrol, the victims drove to a nearby home, where one of them jumped out of the Prius they were riding in, rang Chandra’s doorbell, jumped back in the car and drove off with the other teens.
Chandra then chased down the teens in his car, rear-ending and sideswiping the Prius until he ultimately accelerated to 99 mph and “intentionally rammed his car into the back of the Prius, causing it to veer off the road and into a tree,” the release stated.
According to reports, Chandra did not report the crash and drove away. During the trial, Chandra testified that he became alarmed when he saw someone in front of his house with a sweatshirt hood pulled over his head.
He testified that the person rang the bell, pulled his pants down and mooned him by exposing his buttocks, Afraid for his family’s safety, he testified that he jumped in his 2019 Infinity and chased the Prius.
Chandra also testified that he drank 12 beers in less than three hours before the teens rang his bell, He claimed that he hit the Prius from behind when it suddenly braked, according to a media report.
Chandra was arrested on Jan 20, 2020, and has since been in custody at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.