A summer evening street race has landed two men behind bars after a horrific crash killed an elderly couple who had nothing to do with the illegal contest happening around them. According to Fox 4 News, 51-year-old James Armont and 22-year-old Braydon Moss now face serious charges stemming from the July incident, and the details laid out in the arrest affidavit paint a grim picture of just how fast things can go wrong when two cars decide the public road is their personal drag strip.
Dashcam footage captured the moments leading up to the crash, and it’s hard to watch without feeling for the family involved. Armont, driving a 2021 BMW, reportedly pulled up next to a Tesla and could be heard on camera taunting the other driver about his “racing slicks” before laughing and stomping the throttle. What followed was a high-speed run through traffic that ended with Armont’s BMW slamming into an SUV carrying a 77-year-old couple. He was going 112 mph in a 50 mph zone.
The Tesla very nearly caused a separate collision with that same SUV before Armont’s BMW struck it. Both elderly occupants of the SUV died as a result of the crash, a heartbreaking outcome for what should have been an ordinary drive. Armont himself was seriously hurt, ending up in the passenger seat of his own car with a facial fracture, a lacerated liver and spleen, and a compound leg fracture, according to a witness who pulled him from the wreckage.
It’s the kind of story that reminds us why so many of us who love cars also take safety seriously. Speed has its place, and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a fast car the way it was built to be enjoyed. But that place is a track, not a public street where regular folks are just trying to get where they’re going.
What The Charges Look Like
Armont is facing two counts of manslaughter tied directly to the deaths of the couple. Moss, who was behind the wheel of the Tesla, was charged with racing causing death.
Investigators say street racing has been a persistent problem in that particular area, which suggests this wasn’t an isolated case of two guys making a bad decision on a random night.
A Witness Who Saw It All
One witness described the crash in chilling terms, noting there was no braking and no skidding beforehand. Just a direct hit at triple-digit speed.
That kind of impact leaves little room for anyone involved, whether they’re racing or simply driving home, to react in time.
Every car enthusiast has felt the pull of a good pull. That rush when the road opens up and the engine finally gets to breathe. But there’s a massive difference between an open track day and treating a public road like a personal proving ground.
This crash is a painful example of how quickly that gap can close, and our hearts go out to the family of the couple who lost their lives simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.