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Driver Charged After Boxer Hannah Rapp Is Killed by Alleged Reverse Strike

Investigators say skid marks, vehicle damage and a witness statement contradict the driver's account, prompting his arrest, with a petition seeking changes to pretrial-release rules.

Overview

  • Authorities arrested 31-year-old Charles Eric Medina on a manslaughter charge and booked him into the Brazos County jail on a reported $250,000 bond.
  • Police and an affidavit say Medina sped past two cyclists, then slammed on his brakes, shifted into reverse and accelerated backward, striking Hannah Rapp, according to a witness identified as her boyfriend.
  • Investigators documented braking and reverse skid marks and heavy rear damage to the vehicle that they say is inconsistent with the driver's claim he was reversing slowly.
  • Rapp, 26, was a rising professional featherweight who recently challenged for the WBC title and trained in College Station while working at Texas A&M, and her death has prompted candlelight vigils and tributes from the boxing community.
  • Rapp’s mother has launched a Change.org petition called 'Hannah's Law' to require courts to consider defendants' prior violent or driving offenses when setting or revoking pretrial release, a push that could influence local bond practices.