The teen found guilty of murder and several other charges in connection with a Sterling Heights crash that killed a woman and her unborn child will spend at least 25 years behind bars.
Travion Twon Deangelo Smith, who was 16 at the time of the crash, was found guilty of second-degree murder, gross negligence causing the death of a fetus, first-degree fleeing and eluding and two counts of reckless driving causing serious injury in July 2025.
The crash happened on Aug. 12, 2023, after police tried to conduct a traffic stop on Smith while he was heading northbound on Van Dyke Avenue at 15 Mile Road.
“They observed this tan Equinox driving down 15 Mile in the right lane with its left turn signal on, not changing lanes or anything,” Sterling Heights police Lt. Mario Bastianelli said in 2023. “It was a common sign that someone may have been under the influence or something. We get behind the vehicle and run the license plate. The vehicle came back with no insurance, which is a misdemeanor. We ultimately tried to stop the vehicle.”
Police said the teen failed to stop and continued on Van Dyke Avenue, driving recklessly.
The teen then ran a red light at 16 Mile Road and Van Dyke Avenue, and hit a family that was heading eastbound on 16 Mile Road.
A 31-year-old woman and her unborn child died in the crash, and her husband and their 2-year-old were critically injured, officials said.
Smith was not injured in the crash.
Smith was charged as an adult, and in February 2024, he was bound over to stand trial.
In July 2025, a jury found Smith, now 18 years old, guilty of all charges.
During Smith’s sentencing hearing on Aug. 26, 2025, the prosecutor read victim impact statements from friends and family in court.
“The crash didn’t just take a life; it destroyed a future. It broke something in all of us,” the prosecutor read aloud in court.
One of the victim impact statements described how the husband suffered injuries to the extent that he can no longer voluntarily move.
“This was an accident, not a planned killing,” said Smith’s defense attorney. “It was his irrational fear of the police that caused the accident.”
Smith’s attorney claimed he did not have alcohol or drugs in his system or had any criminal charges against him at the time of the crash. He also claimed Smith drove away from police due to a reaction from the anxious feeling he has with officers.
“The harm was never intended,” his attorney said.
Smith spoke in court before he learned his sentence, apologizing to the family and requesting the judge to consider that he was 16 when the crash happened and tried to request a motion for his case or for a retrial.
“I was scared. I didn’t understand. I truly didn’t understand why they followed me in the first place,” Smith said.
In response, the prosecutor said, “He can’t even make it through a statement to the family, he can’t even express his condolences without immediately turning it into himself.”
“I don’t know if I ever encountered a more tragic case than this,” said the judge.
“You would have been pulled over and ticketed for having no insurance on your car. That’s all,” the judge told Smith in court.
“You literally wiped out a family,” the judge continued, “All you had to do was stop.”
The judge also described the husband’s injuries as “a fate worse than death.”
“Have mercy on your soul,” the judge said before reading Smith’s sentencing.
Smith was sentenced to at least 25 to 50 years in prison. He also received a concurrent sentence of six to 15 years for his additional convictions.