TULSA - Three Jenks High School football players facing juvenile court charges in connection with the death of a teammate during a highway paintball shooting incident have been identified.
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Garrett Bennett, 17, was killed in July 12 accident following a paintball outing for Jenks players and coaches.
Mitchell Hill, 17, of Tulsa was charged with negligent homicide. Bradley P. Regal, 17, was charged with throwing an object from a moving vehicle, stemming from firing a paintball gun. Eric Davis, 18, was charged with reckless driving.
An Oct. 10 court date has been set.
Bennett was riding in a sport utility vehicle driven by Hill. Regal was riding in a car driven by Davis.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper David Storts said the two vehicles were on the Creek Turnpike with Davis’ vehicle in the lead. Storts said Davis prevented Hill from passing.
Regal said in a statement that he shot a paintball at Hill’s car.
Davis said that Regal “said it would be funny to hit the other vehicle with paintballs. He hit them once and they cleaned the paint off. They attempted to pass me but I blocked them twice. They then successfully passed me, swerved right then left across the median.”
Storts said Hill was traveling at 91 mph in the 75 mph zone as his vehicle began to swerve across the median. The SUV struck a large speed sign going another 97 feet and turning over more than twice.
Bennett was sitting in the left rear seat and was the only occupant of the car not wearing a seat belt. He was thrown from the SUV and found about 18 feet from the vehicle. He suffered massive head injuries and rib fractures, according to the medical examiner’s report.
Regal’s attorney, Rob Nigh, told Storts the accident occurred about five seconds after a paintball shot hit the center of the passenger side windshield.
Storts said the accident “is unique in that you have two vehicles basically involved in careless actions leading” to a fatality.
