Two men arrested, accused of street racing in Clay County that led to death of 18-year-old woman

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — From behind the wheel to behind bars, two are in jail accused of street racing that led to the death of an 18-year-old woman. The crash happened on US-17 in Clay County last June.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

22-year-old Clifton Flagler Jr. and 20-year-old Derrick Evans are facing charges of vehicular homicide and racing on highways.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

“It didn’t sit right with me, I knew something was wrong,” neighbor Margret Plyler said.

The two suspects were arrested on Thursday, troopers say the 18-year-old who died was in the passenger seat of Flagler Jr.’s car.

“I heard the wreck, I heard the noise,” Plyler said.

Investigators say the two raced and were going over 120 miles-per-hour before Flagler Jr. lost control of the car on US-17.

Sgt. Dylan Bryan with the Florida Highway Patrol said this was a horrific wreck.

“The collision was so severe, the speeds were so high it actually ripped the car into two different pieces,” Sgt. Bryan.

RELATED: ‘People are dying:’ Florida bill would stiffen penalties for repeat illegal street racing

Neighbor Margret Plyler lives right where it happened and said it was too dark to see anything before troopers arrived, but said she heard noises after the crash.

“A vehicle was parked on the road someone was running, saying ‘go go go go go’ and they took off,” she said.

Sgt. Bryan told Action News Jax that Evans left the scene after the crash. Investigators were able to track down Evans who admitted to driving the other car and being at fault.

Sgt. Bryan said they all knew each other in some capacity but this wasn’t a planned street racing event.

“Just out and unfortunately had a poor decision to decide to drive at a high rate of speed against each other in that show of exhibition, unfortunately, lost control and this young lady lost her life,” he said.

READ: Drag strip gets green light in Nassau County

The two suspects are currently being held in Putnam county until they get transferred to the Clay county Jail. Action News Jax was told that there were several warrants and social media work that needed to be done to connect the 2nd driver to the crash. The Florida Highway Patrol urges drivers to be responsible on the road and Sgt. Bryan said if you have to race, do it at a sanctioned event that has proper safety precautions in place.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.