An angry driver got back into his car and spun it two ways before speeding toward a young woman, leaving her fatally injured on a Massachusetts highway, prosecutors alleged.
Destini Decoff, 26, died in the hospital Sunday less than 72 hours after being struck at high speed by Ryan Sweatt’s Honda Civic on Route 85 north of Milford.
Sweatt, 36, told police that the four men in Destini’s car had threatened him with a knife during the incident at 6 p.m. Thursday.
But Destini’s grieving mother said she hopes he “burns in hell” after surveillance footage reportedly showed him turning and heading toward the group of friends, rather than away.
“He turned around several times and was able to keep going,” witness Brett Martin said.
Destini Decoff, 26, was fatally injured Thursday night when the car she was traveling in became caught in a road rage incident on Route 85 north of Milford in Massachusetts.
Ryan Sweatt, 36, appeared in court Friday charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and operating to endanger.
But the charges are likely to increase after Destini died from his injuries in hospital on Sunday.
‘I could have moved on. She chose to turn around, she decided to go back. He knew what he was doing when he headed towards that girl.
“I didn’t see it rise into the air. But I saw her fall, hit the pavement. From then on it was not good.”
‘I saw her in the air descending towards the street, her jacket must have been 20 feet away from her. No matter how they hit her, those clothes of hers flew away.”
Sweatt told police he had left work and was driving home to Milford when the other car stopped in front of him and the driver slammed on the brakes.
A police officer caught up with Sweatt and saw damage to his windshield after seeing him speed away.
“They’re trying to kill me,” he told the officer, pointing to the people gathered around Destini, who was lying in a pool of blood.
Destini, 26, was taken to hospital with a brain hemorrhage, collapsed lung and fractures to her shoulder, tibia and ribs.
He had an emergency operation to remove his spleen and part of his skull to relieve pressure on his swollen brain, but he never regained consciousness.
Destini, 26, was taken to hospital with a brain hemorrhage, collapsed lung and fractures to her shoulder, tibia and ribs.
Tracy Decoff thanked the doctors at Umass Memorial Medical Center who tried to save her daughter’s life and gave her a printout of Destini’s last heartbeats.
Her mother, Tracy, made the decision to turn off her life support system Sunday afternoon and vowed to get justice for her daughter.
‘With every ounce of my being I hope that mf burns straight into hell!’ she wrote on Facebook.
‘Today my biggest fear as a mother became my reality. My firstborn and my best friend is no longer with me.
‘I don’t break my promises and I promise you with every ounce of my being that I will get justice for you no matter what it takes.
‘Go spread those beautiful wings and fly without pain or suffering.’
Police recovered a knife from the scene, but Sweatt was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, operating to endanger and violating marked lanes.
Police said their investigation suggests Sweatt “engaged in an apparent road rage incident with another vehicle.”
“Some of the occupants of the other vehicle” abandoned their car before Sweatt “made a U-turn at a high rate of speed and struck the victim in the roadway.”
He denied the charges when he appeared in court on Friday and was remanded in custody pending a dangerousness hearing on Wednesday.
‘We knew something was happening. You could say there’s a little bit of road rage,” said Martin, who watched the incident from nearby Cornell’s Irish pub.
“He was just trying to say that he was afraid for his life. That was his story and he was protecting himself.
Tracy Decoff thanked the doctors at Umass Memorial Medical Center who tried to save her daughter’s life and gave her a printout of Destini’s last heartbeats.
“I know that working in the medical field you are supposed to contain your emotions,” he wrote.
‘All the doctors, all the different types of trauma surgeons were incredible.
‘The anesthesiologist cried with me saying how sorry she was. Those trauma ICU nurses are like no other! Hug and cry with my other children and my family.
‘I had a nurse who wasn’t even my daughter’s nurse tell me she’s from Medway and how popular my daughter is there. “Medway loves her” is what she said.
Destini’s mother, Tracy, made the decision to turn off her life support system Sunday afternoon and vowed to get justice for her daughter.
‘My firstborn and my best friend is no longer with me,’ Destini’s mother wrote, ‘I don’t break my promises and I promise you with every ounce of my being that I will get justice for you.’
‘After he was called, this nurse let me help her make my daughter’s last handprints and print her heartbeat on a bottle.
‘Many of them said that we can see under all her wounds that she is a pretty girl.
‘I said absolutely beautiful. I will treasure them forever.”
TO gofundme An appeal has been launched to help Destini’s family with their final arrangements.