LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The family of Andreas Probst, the retired police chief killed while riding his bicycle in Las Vegas, is asking the two teens accused of killing him to plead guilty.
In an interview with ABC News, they shared their side of the story.
On Aug. 14, police said a 64-year-old bicyclist, later identified as Probst, was hit and killed while riding north of Tenaya Way and Centennial Parkway. Investigators said he was hit from behind by a vehicle that fled from the scene.
His wife, Crystal, said he was wearing an Apple Watch that called 911 and sent her a text message after the device detected a hard fall just blocks from their home. Probst's daughter, Taylor, said they arrived at the scene early on, and things didn't look good.
"I got a good look at what the scene was. I saw everything," Taylor said. "I saw where the phone was, where half of his helmet was, and then where the bike was and the amount of blood that was sitting there. I knew right then and there."
Crystal said she saw photos circulating online showing the vehicle that hit Probst. However, Taylor said it was hours before they got official confirmation.
"The coroner showed up around 10:15, 10:30 to notify us. The first article about it reporting it as a fatal came out around 7:30 in the morning," Taylor said. "So basically, all of the Las Vegas Valley knew my dad was dead before we were even notified by anyone. We had to find out through the media."
At the time, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Jason Johansson said investigators thought it was a hit and run, due to evidence at the scene. That was before a viral video led investigators to believe the driver who hit Probst did so on purpose.
"When investigators first arrived on scene that day, they didn't have that [viral] video. They had a bicyclist down on the side of the road," Johansson said. "You had people that said it looked intentional, but an investigation has to occur to determine it left the accidental realm and became a homicide investigation. They didn't know about the incident that happened about 30 minutes earlier, when a car was used to hit another bicyclist."
A few weeks after the crash, a high school student alerted a Clark County School District police officer about a social media video showing the crash. Probst's family said they were thankful someone came forward with the video, noting that there was about a month between the person coming forward and the video going viral online.
Crystal and Taylor say neither of them have been able to watch it the whole way through.
"The laughing, them saying 'get his ass' — all of that has haunted me ever since," Taylor said. "I've only watched up until that point, right up to impact. I refuse to watch any more."
RELATED LINK: Friends of Andreas Probst share memories of retired police chief
Johansson said it was a "very emotional video" and one that is unique when it comes to criminal investigations.
"Rarely do we, as the investigators, and rarely does the public have front-row seats to the act that's about to occur and the suspects' beliefs and what they're believing they're doing at the time," Johansson said. "I can't think of too many cases I've ever had where you have the audio and the video of what they were thinking and doing before the murder, as they commit the murder, and after the murder. It's a very emotional video, and you know what you're seeing and can't believe it when you're watching it."
Johansson said it was also difficult to watch knowing Probst was a former police chief in Bell, California who dedicated over 30 years of service to the community.
"You have to, as an investigator, remove yourself from those facts," Johansson said. "You have to really sit there and put all of that aside to solve the case. The emotion side is not going to get you to solve the case."
RELATED LINK: Las Vegas police release 911 calls that detail teens' suspected crime spree
When the video did go viral online, Crystal and Taylor said that's what "hurt the most."
"It felt very invasive. It's already hard enough dealing with the grief of losing a parent. Now you add in the layer of it being a murder, having to go through court and everything. But now, you're adding on that extra layer of feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders, the weight of the world's opinions," Taylor said. "It makes it 20 times harder. The way we lost my dad was very, very, very gut-wrenching. It was heartbreaking — but that's something people have to remember. This is our loss."
Crystal said she wants to know why those social media platforms allowed the video to be so widely circulated.
"To me, that was a snuff video and it should have never gotten past the Facebooks, the Twitters, the Reddits, because it was truly a snuff video. How is that even legal today?" Crystal asked. "A major news organization or mainstream media aren't allowed to show those videos, but you have these platforms they can go out. We're going to have generations looking at their grandfather, great-grandfather saying, 'that was my family member.'"
Because of the video, investigators were able to identify the teens involved as 18-year-old Jesus Ayala, who was 17 at the time, and 16-year-old Jzamir Keys. Both will be tried as adults. A Clark County Grand Jury handed down a 14-count indictment against the pair earlier this month. The indictment stated seven victims were involved as part of the pair's crime spree, which also included crashing into another bicyclist, burglary, and stealing several vehicles.
RELATED LINK: Indictment lays out deadly crime spree of teens accused in cyclist's murder
According to police body-worn camera footage, Ayala allegedly told an officer that, because he was a juvenile, he would only "get a slap on the wrist." It's a comment that Crystal and Taylor said is upsetting.
"With him saying that, it shows how the justice system fails. Not everybody can be rehabbed," Crystal said. "I know how hard it is to be a parent of teenage children. It's the hardest job in the world. You have to constantly be on them. It's going to cost you time away from work and time away from other parts of your family. You, as a parent, are the only ones that can save your children. Society is not going to save your children and if you don't do that, you fail as a parent, as well."
They both add they have a message for Ayala and Keys:
"Take the largest sentence and be done. Don't put our families through this any longer. Plead guilty," Crystal said. "Take your 20-plus years and be done. If you're man enough to do what you did, you're man enough to stand up to the justice system and take your punishment."
"Don't put us through any more mental and emotional anguish, because we're already dealing with enough with the loss of my father," Taylor said. "Man up. Plead out. Take the sentence."
RELATED LINK: Attorney representing teen accused of police chief's death concerned with publicity
Both Crystal and Taylor said they believe social media challenges are the root cause of what happened that day.
"It was already a TikTok challenge to steal Kias and Hyundais and the vehicles that these two individuals stole was a Hyundai that was part of that specific recall. That challenge has continued to grow, and how is it going to segue into something like this," Taylor said. "A lot of people don't look at social media with those extra added layers beyond connecting with friends and family. Social media is creating a new brand of narcissist where they're doing things, recording things for clout, just for the infamy behind it. You forget the people you're recording are real people and have families behind them. It's not all about you."
Taylor said 10 days after her father's death, a family on the East Coast contacted her saying something similar happened to them.
"A woman said her ex-husband was hit by a car. Two girls who just happened to be there at the same time actually filed her ex-husband getting hit and also posted it to TikTok," Taylor said. "Less than two weeks later, you have a guy in Huntington Beach doing the same thing. Is this just going to encourage kids to go out there and create more chaos?"
RELATED LINK: Formal charges filed against teens accused of killing retired police chief
Crystal and Taylor both said they're still trying to process their grief but that it will be hard until they receive justice.
"I'm still in disbelief. I truly am," Crystal said. "It's hard to grieve when you have anger. When you have anger, you can't grieve properly. I think, until everything's done and sentenced, I won't be able to really grieve and let go."
"Every little girl's dream is just to have her dad give her away at her wedding. It hurts that I'll never have those experiences," Taylor said. "It hurts that that was robbed from me, and it was robbed from my mom and my brother. All future experiences we were supposed to have have been taken in one swift motion."
The pair are also calling on parents to speak with their kids to avoid another tragic day like Aug. 14 from ever happening again.
"Sit down with your kids. Watch what they're watching on the Internet," Taylor said. "Have conversations with them. Be active in their lives. Don't be an inattentive parent. This is the result of that. You will end up with two kids who are wreaking havoc and causing pain on an innocent family."
Ayala and Keys' cases have been consolidated. They're facing several felony charges, including murder and attempted murder. The pair pleaded not guilty on Oct. 11. They're scheduled to be back in court on Oct. 24.
