13-Year-Old Pleads Guilty in Death of Uber Eats Driver

Cops: DC carjacking by teen, 15-year-old accomplice led to crash that killed 66-year-old Mohammad Anwar
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 4, 2021 9:20 AM CDT

A 13-year-old girl has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the DC death of an Uber Eats driver who was killed during a carjacking in the spring. NBC Washington reports that the teen's accomplice, a 15-year-old girl, pleaded guilty last month to felony murder after the March 23 incident that left 66-year-old Mohammad Anwar, a Pakistani immigrant, dead. Prosecutors say on the day in question, the Maryland girls asked Anwar for a ride near the Navy Yard-Ballpark Metro station, only to pull a stun gun on him a few blocks later, near Nationals Park, and try to take control of his Honda Accord. Per 7News, a detective's testimony described a witness video of the carjacking that showed "one of the girls behind the wheel of the car with a Taser, the other girl in the passenger seat, and the driver wedged between the open driver's door, partly sitting on top of the girl behind the wheel." Cops say the 15-year-old then accelerated the car, with Anwar "hanging outside the car."

The car slammed into other vehicles and a tree and flipped. Anwar, who an autopsy found suffered broken ribs, a shattered pelvis, and other serious injuries, died at a nearby hospital. In addition to murder charges, the teens were also initially hit with carjacking and armed robbery charges, though those charges were dropped as part of their plea deals, per the Washington Post. The girls were prosecuted as juveniles, meaning they won't see prison time. Instead, depending on their sentences, they'll likely end up at juvenile detention facilities, where they can only be held till they turn 21—and may even get out earlier, if DC's Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services deems them not dangerous to society. Meanwhile, a Good Morning America report in March asks a question that remains unanswered: "[Do] services like Uber Eats need to do more to protect drivers?" The 13-year-old is set to be sentenced in July, while the 15-year-old may hear her fate this week. (More carjacking stories.)

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