HASTINGS — Three Adams County teenagers are being prosecuted as adults in connection with a May crash that left a Hastings woman in a coma.
Court records identify the defendants as 18-year-old Gregory Stroot of Juniata, along with 17-year-olds Beckett Shafer and Tanner Graf, both of Hastings. Each faces two felony counts of second-degree assault, with their cases transferred to Adams County District Court for possible trial.
Stroot had a probable cause hearing in August and is set for arraignment on September 17. Graf and Shafer waived their county court hearings, though no formal charges have been filed in district court yet, and no hearing dates are scheduled for them at this time.
The teens were originally charged with misdemeanor exhibition driving and willful reckless driving, but those charges were dismissed, though they could be refiled later.
The crash happened May 2 on West 2nd Street near Casey’s, where police found two pickups and a minivan badly damaged, with one pickup driven into a house. Investigators say the teens’ vehicles were traveling recklessly when they collided, sending one pickup into the house and another into a head-on crash with the minivan.
The minivan’s driver, Jelena Bozic Skinner of Hastings, suffered severe head injuries and has remained in a coma. Her son was also seriously injured. A GoFundMe page has since been launched to help the family.
Initially, police believed only two teens were involved, but later video evidence confirmed a third vehicle. Investigators also determined that speed was a factor in the crash.
If convicted of second-degree assault, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison.
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