Boredom Causes Grief and Loss of Life- From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Officer: Rock tosser ‘bored’Teen admitted hurling stone on I-630, witness says

BY JIM BROOKS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Before he realized anyone had died, a Little Rock teenager told investigators that he was "bored" when he threw a chunk of concrete onto Interstate 630 that hit a vehicle driven by Carolyn Mirek on May 28, a state police special agent told a judge Wednesday at a bond hearing.

Mirek, 50, of Little Rock died of the injuries she suffered after the concrete struck her while she drove west on I-630 near the Woodrow Street overpass. She was on her way home from Mass with her 15-year-old daughter in the passenger seat.

Arkansas State Police arrested Every Donnelle Richardson, 17, three days later on charges of first-degree murder and committing terroristic acts. He has pleaded innocent. At the end of the 15-minute hearing in Pulaski County District Court on Wednesday, Judge Wayne Gruber ordered that Richardson’s bond remain at $200,000, a figure the teenager’s defense attorney said has the same effect as bond being denied.

The key witness at the hearing, state police Special Agent Stuart Woodward, outlined for the judge the investigation that resulted in Richardson’s arrest. Woodward said Richardson at first denied his involvement. But after investigators told him that two of his companions had said Richardson threw the concrete, he confessed that he did throw it, Woodward said.

"It was me," Richardson said, according to the detective. "I was just bored, really. I went down by the railroad tracks and started throwing rocks." Woodward said that at the time Richardson gave the statement, he didn’t realize that anyone had been killed. "At the time of the interview, he didn’t know it was a fatality," Woodward said, adding that Richardson also described the rock he threw and the vehicles he thought had been hit. "Detectives then told him it was a fatality."

"That wasn’t just throwing rocks," Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley said in an interview after the hearing. "This wasn’t some kid tossing rocks into a pond. ... It was a substantial enough boulder that it would take two hands and a great amount of effort to hurl it into a moving car."

Richardson’s two counts of committing a terroristic act are related to Mirek’s daughter, Mary Catherine Mirek, being in the vehicle when it was hit and to the striking of another vehicle. No one in the other vehicle was injured.

Two other teens questioned by police have not yet been charged, but authorities said the investigation is continuing and more charges are possible.

Mirek and her daughter were in a Chevrolet Tahoe driving home after Mass about 5 p.m. when the concrete smashed through the windshield. Mary Catherine said she saw concrete fall toward the vehicle, smash through the windshield and strike her mother’s head.

Friends and relatives of Carolyn Mirek described her as a devout Catholic who loved her family and worked as a portrait artist. She died the day after she was injured.

At first, authorities investigated whether the concrete was thrown or fell from the overpass. They eventually learned that the object was thrown from the roadside near the viaduct where the interstate crosses the railroad tracks. Woodward said investigators first contacted the three teenagers shortly after the vehicles were hit, at a "block party" on Booker Street.

Investigators eventually went to Central High School to talk to one of the other teens but left when they were told that school had let out early on the day investigators were there. A short time later, Little Rock detectives spotted the teens sitting on a porch on South Woodrow Street, Woodward testified. When the youths were approached by detectives, they ran, with Richardson splitting from the other two, Woodward said. The two younger teens were captured, but Richardson escaped, Woodward said. While police interviewed the other teens at state police headquarters, the mother of one of the boys called to say she was taking Richardson in to be interviewed as a witness. Richardson admitted his involvement during that interview, Woodward said.

Later, when investigators talked by telephone with Richardson’s mother, "She said he is a troubled child, and he wouldn’t go to school," Woodward testified. "He will lie. He’s a good liar," the woman said, according to Woodward. "He has been going in the wrong direction."

The investigator said the two other teens admitted that they were present when the rocks were thrown, but they denied throwing any.

During Wednesday’s hearing, defense attorney Bill James asked Woodward how he could be sure that the other teens didn’t throw anything onto the interstate. "We know of only two rocks that were thrown on the interstate, and [Richardson] claimed both of them," Woodward said.

Richardson’s father, James Richardson, testified that his son didn’t have a criminal history and that the family didn’t have enough money to post a high bond. Richardson’s mother didn’t attend the hearing.

In a low voice, the younger Richardson also testified, telling the judge that he left school during his junior year. He said he had been charged with truancy, which landed him in an alternative school, and he was accused of breaking some windows. That accusation was dismissed after his mother agreed to make compensation, he said. James asked the younger Richardson if he had a job. "I was supposed to start last Friday at McDonald’s," Richardson responded.

The 17-year-old admitted to having a tattoo on his right arm that reads, "West Side Pimp," but he denied that it had anything to do with gangs.

After the hearing, James described his client as being "very immature." "He’s operating on the level of a 12-year-old," James said. "The idea that he was doing this by himself is preposterous."

The case has not yet been filed in circuit court. The penalty for first-degree murder is 10-40 years or life in prison.

This story was published Thursday, June 09, 2005