The 22-year-old BMW driver who struck and killed four Pepperdine University students last week in Malibu while driving at 104 miles per hour was charged Wednesday with four counts of murder and given $4 million bail, authorities said.
Fraser Bohm pleaded not guilty to all charges at a hearing on Wednesday, a day after he was arrested. Bohm was also charged with four counts of felony vehicular homicide, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon said at a news conference.
"The investigation revealed that the defendant knew that his actions were dangerous to human life and deliberately acted with a conscious disregard for human life," Gascon said.
Pepperdine University students hug on the school grounds during a vigil for the crash, Oct. 19, 2023.Getty Images
Michael Kraut, the defendant's attorney, told The Associated Press that the incident occurred when Bohm was being chased after an incident of road violence: He had been texting at a traffic light when a man in another car started yelling and then chased him, Kraut said.
"The person came into his lane, hit my client's car with his car and forced him off the road," Kraut added.
Bohm passed every field sobriety test at the scene of the crash, Kraut said, and has no criminal record, "not even a traffic ticket."
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Bohm had initially been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter following the Oct. 17 crash, but was released a day later while investigators gathered more evidence, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
"In this particular case, the tests, including toxicological tests, speed analysis, execution of search warrants, etc., were still pending and more time was needed to assemble them," the statement said.
Bohm's bail was initially set at $8 million but was later reduced to $4 million, according to the district attorney's office.
Pepperdine University identified the deceased as Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams, seniors at Seaver College of Liberal Arts.
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The four sorority members were walking along the Pacific Coast Highway at 8:30 p.m. (Western Time) in Malibu, California, just a few miles from the Christian university, when the driver lost control and sideswiped at least three parked vehicles before slamming into them and running over two other people. according to authorities. All four students died on the spot and the other two people were taken to a hospital with injuries.
Flowers at the spot where the four students died after being hit by a car, in Malibu, California, on Oct. 19, 2023.Associated Press
"The Sheriff's Department is working tirelessly to ensure that the families of the victims receive justice," the statement said.
Weir was from Philadelphia and studying English, while Rolston, from Los Angeles, and Stewart, from New York, were studying business, according to CBS in Los Angeles. Williams was from a suburb of Atlanta and was studying veterinary medicine.
Jay Brewster, the university's president, told a church service last week that the young women were "bright lights with promise and aspirations."
Bohm, who turned 22 a day before the crash, played baseball in high school. A story published by the Los Angeles Times in 2017 explains that he served as an outfield player and pitcher at Chaminade High School. And it was "much appreciated."
With information from The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times