A 17-year-old driver accused of mowing down three valets at a Houston restaurant last week was charged with three counts of murder Monday.
The teen, Ahmedal Tayeb Elnouman Modawi, who is hospitalized, also faces one count of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle, police said.
The valets, ages 18, 22 and 23, were working at Prospect Park South, southeast of downtown Houston, when they were killed Friday night. Authorities have not identified them.
"We're talking about three individuals who were just out here working," said Sean Teare, chief of the Harris County district attorney's vehicular crimes division. "They were out here doing their job.
"This one is as egregious as we've seen in a very long time," he added.
When a police sergeant saw a driver doing doughnuts in a parking lot in an Infiniti sedan, he flipped on his lights, authorities said. The driver fled, hitting speeds of 60 mph on a two-lane road, Teare said.
Within seconds, authorities alleged, the driver had struck the valets, killing them. The Infiniti then crashed in a ditch, they said.
Modawi and a passenger were taken to a hospital with broken legs. It was not immediately clear whether Modawi has an attorney.