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Mother of Baton Rouge street racing crash victim wants harsher penalties for offenders
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BATON ROUGE — The mother of a man hit and killed by a driver going more than 80 mph in a 45 mph zone is demanding harsher penalties for street racing.
Desmond Windon, 25, was arrested Monday for manslaughter in the May death of 45-year-old Terry Everson.
Surveillance footage shows Windon's car was in a street race with another vehicle on Greenwell Springs Road in the moments before they crashed on May 5. Police say Windon did not have a driver's license at the time.
Everson, who was a passenger in the other car, was taken to the hospital in critical condition. After nearly two weeks on a ventilator, his family made the decision to let him go.
"I was angry because this is senseless. You decide to do something senseless and selfishly, not taking into regard the consequences of what could happen," Terry's mother, Cheryl Everson Warren, said to WBRZ.
Her son, though, was an organ donor, and Everson Warren said she takes comfort in the fact that her son's death brought life to others.
"His heart has someone else living. One of his lungs has someone else breathing," she said. "They told me parts of his liver went to two people and one of his kidneys. My son was able to save lives."
Still, Everson Warren wants harsher penalties to deter street racing.
"Whatever it is they need to do on Greenwell Springs Road, where they're constantly racing, they need to get that done," she said. "We need to get some laws passed in the state of Louisiana for the people of Louisiana."
Currently, penalties for drag racing in the city-parish include a $1,000 fine and having a car impounded for two weeks. In March, the Baton Rouge Metro Council voted to expand punishments for illegal street racing spectators.
This is not the first time drag racing has claimed a life in Baton Rouge. In 2024, Darrien Rogers pleaded guilty to manslaughter for causing the death of Sherell Weston. Records show Rogers ran a red light and crashed into Weston's car while speeding away from police after leaving a street racing meetup in 2022.
Later that same year, 23-year-old Warren Thomas crashed into a guardrail while racing more than 90 mph on Airline Highway. His passenger, 27-year-old Kaitlyn Jones, died in that crash.
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