Man in custody after 4-year-old child injured in road shooting
A man is in custody after a 4-year-old girl was injured in a shooting stemming from what police believe was an accident on a Tampa road.
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HOPKINTON, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman who was struck by a vehicle last week in an alleged road rage incident has died, authorities said Monday.
Destiny Dekoff, 26, died Saturday, just days after local authorities said she was intentionally hit by a car in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, a town about 36 miles west of Boston. Ryan Swat, 36, has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, endangerment and marked lanes violation in connection with the incident, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release Friday.
A preliminary investigation revealed that Swat was driving a Honda Civic Thursday night in Hopkinton when “he was involved in an apparent road rage incident with another vehicle,” according to the district attorney’s office. At one point, some occupants of the other vehicle – including Dekoff – got out of the car and Swat then swerved at high speed, striking Dekoff in the road.
Dekoff was transported to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries, the district attorney’s office said. In a Facebook post Saturday, Decoff’s mother, Tracy Decoff, also confirmed her daughter’s death.
“Today my biggest fear as a mother became my reality. My first born child and my best friend is no longer with me,” Tracy Decoff said in the post.
Swat was later arrested and is currently being held without bond pending a hearing Wednesday to determine if he is a danger to the public. The incident is being investigated by the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, the Hopkinton Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police.
Road rage incidents are a common occurrence across the country, and the number of road rage incidents is increasing each year, according to Consumer Affairs’ 2024 Road Rage Statistics. In 2023, about 92% of Americans report that witnessed road rage at least once, and 89% reported being the victim of an accident.
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The victim was seriously injured after the collision
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help raise funds for Destiny Dekoff’s funeral arrangements. “On April 6, Destiny was tragically taken from us after she was intentionally hit by a vehicle. Her family is asking for help with the cost of her final arrangements,” the page states.
In several Facebook posts, Tracy Decoff provided an update on her daughter’s condition, including that she was on life support early Saturday. She later confirmed the death on Saturday night.
“You know I don’t break promises and I promise you with every ounce of my being that I will get justice for you no matter what it takes,” Tracy Decoff said in one post.
During Swat’s arraignment Friday in Framingham District Court, he was ordered held without bond pending a hearing Wednesday. WCVB-TV reported that prosecutors described significant injuries during Swat’s arraignment.
“There are serious concerns as to whether she will survive or not,” prosecutor Pavan Nagaveli said on Friday. “The injuries that she sustained, she suffered major internal injuries including extensive facial trauma and both legs were possibly broken.”
A spokeswoman for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said no charges have been filed, but the incident remains under investigation.
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Aggressive driving can escalate into confrontations, physical assault and homicide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Road rage describes “angry and violent behavior at the extreme end of the aggressive driving continuum,” the agency says.
The most common acts of road rage in the United States are speeding on the freeway, tailgating, gesticulating or honking, running a red light, driving aggressively and cutting off another vehicle, according to Consumer Affairs.
“Road rage is a criminal offense and involves intentional violent and extreme behavior that puts other drivers at imminent risk,” Consumer Affairs said. American drivers report growing concern about the potential involvement of guns in road rage incidents, according to Consumer Affairs.
The advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety found in a report released last year that more than 550 people were shot in road rage incidents in 2022. That means, on average, someone was shot or fatally injured in a road rage incident every 16 hours.
The number of gun-related road injuries and deaths has increased every year since 2018, the report said. From 2018 to 2022, the number of incidents doubled.
Since last month, there have already been more than 100 road shooting deaths and more than 360 related injuries, according to Consumer Affairs. Numerous fatal road accidents have also made headlines in the national media in recent years.
In January, a Southern California man was found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2021 drive-by shooting that killed 6-year-old Aidan Leos. Authorities said at the time that Aiden was sitting in the backseat of his mother’s car as she drove him to daycare when another driver shot and killed him during the morning rush hour.
Last December, a 4-year-old boy was fatally shot after a man opened fire on a family’s car in Lancaster, California. The boy’s parents were driving on the highway when the suspects cut them off and started following them before shooting at the car.
In Texas, a woman was killed last July after her husband flipped a car he was driving aggressively. Police said the driver responded by firing multiple shots into the couple’s minivan, striking the woman in the back of the head.
Contributing: Grace Hauck, USA TODAY
You can contact Norman Miller at [email protected]. For up-to-date public safety news, follow him on X @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.
