Privacy Policy » 13-Year-Old Driver Charged with Murder After Social Media Video of Him Hitting Cyclist: ‘Bump Him, Brah’

Scott Dwight Habermehl, 63, died on May 29, 2024, while riding his bike to work at Sandia National Laboratory at around 4:40 a.m., according to a release seen by USA Today. He was struck by a car, which subsequently drove away.

The Albuquerque Police Department was initially unable to determine who had been in the car, which it was later determined had been stolen, despite an image of the vehicle captured from a nearby church. They initially believed the fatal incident an accident.

Then, tips started coming in about a video circulating on social media that appeared to show the crash from the vantage point of inside the vehicle. This eventually helped police track down the three boys who were in the car, and filming the video.

Now, one of those boys, the 13-year-old driver, has been charged in Habermehl’s killing and will be held in the Juvenile Detention Center, per People.

He’s facing charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death, and unlawful possession of a handgun.

Also present in the video was an 11-year-old, with KOB4 reporting police apprehended him on Tuesday. He’s currently in the custody of the Children, Youth and Families Department for an evaluation.

A 15-year-old in the vehicle, and who police believe was recording the video, is facing the same charges, but police have yet to apprehend him.

“I am horrified by the video footage of a brazen, heartless killing involving three New Mexico juveniles—ages 11, 13, and 15—who targeted an innocent cyclist,” said New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham in a statement on Tuesday.

“This case is an appalling and heartbreaking reminder of the serious juvenile crime crisis we face in New Mexico––and our lack of tools to properly address it,” she continued. “Such senseless violence could be prevented if we had proper laws in place to detain repeat juvenile offenders and provide appropriate interventions.”

It wasn’t until February 2025, nine months after the fatal incident, that police got their first anonymous tip about a video circulating on social media taken inside the vehicle. The tipster provided police with the Instagram handle and name of the account holder, per USA Today.

The video as also reported by a student to a middle school principal with the Albuquerque Public Schools, who also involved the police.

According to police, that account had already been flagged in a separate investigation, and they’d also already seized the phones of the 13-year-old and 11-year-old suspects. Then, they secured a warrant to search those devices.

Therein, police reported finding multiple clips showing all three suspects, as well as video of the crash itself. Based on the evidence, police believe the 13-year-old was the driver, the 11-year-old was in the passenger seat, and the 15-year-old in the back seat.

The video that was released online, and can be viewed here at the Albuquerque Journal (viewer discretion advised) captures the moment they boys swerved into a dedicated bike lane and struck Habermhel, per the city’s press release, with audio captured in the video indicating it was an intentional hit.

“Just bump him, brah,” a voice believed to be the 15-year-old suspect can allegedly be heard saying.

“Like bump him?” the driver’s voice asks.

“Yeah, just bump him. Go like 15 … 20,” the same voice replied.

At this point, according to the press release, the video shows the 11-year-old waving a handgun and laughing before he ducks down as his side of the car hits the man on the bicycle.

The video captured the sound of “metal flexing,” per police, as Habermehl and his bicycle flew over the passenger side of the vehicle.

KOB4 did some additional investigating into the criminal histories of the juvenile suspects, uncovering a long history of alleged and convicted criminal activity for the youngest two.

The news outlet reports that the 11-year-old already had an “extensive criminal history,” with police connecting him to “a series of crimes including shooting, burglary and more.”

Police have tied him to the same group of boys who rammed a car into a convenience store and stole beer, cigarettes, and other alcohol on May 17, 2024, leaving behind more than $15,000 in damages. In that instance, the boys appeared to also be recording their actions, per police.

The 11-year-old was arrested June 7 in relation to those crimes, but not connected to this fatal hit-and-run until this week.

He has not been charged, as police said he’s too young to be charged with murder, but they are working with the district attorney’s office and the Children, Youth & Families Department to figure out if and with what he could be charged.

KOB4 also looked into the criminal history of the 13-year-old suspect, revealing that he allegedly committed additional crimes on the same day that Habermehl was killed.

The 13-year-old was involved in several alleged crimes in the spring of 2024, including a school break-in on April 27 that involved property damage, and additional charges. In those cases, he pled guilty to one charge and received a year probation.

He then allegedly stole a car on May 2, which police combined with additional crimes alleged on May 12, when police believe he assaulted four people, and May 29 — the day of Habermehl’s murder — when he allegedly shot from a car and at a building.

Habermahl had a PhD in physics and had worked for 30 years at the Sandia National Laboratories. He always rode his bicycle to work in the morning. He enjoyed riding horses, tending his wildflower garden, hiking, skiing, and playing baseball with his two sons, according to his obituary.

“He was a consummate outdoorsman and cared deeply for the wild spaces of the world,” the obituary read.

And he also liked riding his bike, with an Instagram post from BikeABQ in July 2024 memorializing him noting, “His family estimates that he biked more than 250,000 miles on the streets and bike paths of Albuquerque in the last three decades and says that he found great peace and joy in his daily bike rides.”