Driver who killed four students in Dead Man’s Curve crash claims he was being chased

The driver responsible for a deadly crash that killed four college students has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder.

Fraser Michael Bohm, 22, was arrested shortly after losing control of his BMW while speeding down the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

As Bohm tried to turn around a stretch of highway known locally as the ‘dead man’s curve,’ he smashed into cars parked along the scenic highway.

Those cars then collided with pedestrians, killing four women.

Investigators later determined that Bohm was traveling over 104 miles per hour in a zone with a 45 mile per hour speed limit.

The four victims were identified as Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams. All four were college seniors at nearby Pepperdine University in Malibu.

‘Our hearts go out the families, loved ones and the Pepperdine University family as they cope with this unimaginable pain,’ Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon said.

‘Today we stand in deep sorrow for the loss of four innocent lives tragically taken in a senseless act.

Gascon’s office has since charged Bohm with four counts of murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

Bohm pleaded not guilty to the charges at a hearing on Wednesday. His attorney, Michael Kraut, said that Bohm was being chased by another car following a road rage incident just a few miles away.

‘The guy comes into his lane, hits my client’s car with his car and forces him off the road,’ Kraut said.

In an interview with KTLA, Kraut said the incident started at Duke’s Malibu, a famous bar about three miles away from the site of the crash.

‘We have evidence that the Sheriff’s Department did not want to take that clearly shows that there was a road rage incident that started at Duke’s, that this person chased him and tried to push him off the side of the road,’ Kraut told the local station.

‘When he accelerated to get away from him, that’s when the accident occurred.’

The attorney also claimed that the other driver admitted to a family member he pushed Bohm off the road.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office previously said there was ‘no evidence’ the crash stemmed from a road rage incident or from street racing.

Bohm’s bail was set at $8million, but later reduced by the court to $4million.

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