Daniel Cheema pleaded not guilty to a manslaughter charge after a 15-year-old boy died after a car surfing prank went bad.
Police sources say that Cheema picked up 3 drunken teenagers and allowed two of them to ride on top of his Toyota Highlander while the third teen filmed the event for social media. At one point in the car surfing adventure 15-year-old, Ryan Mullen fell off the top of the vehicle and smacked his head on the street.
The teen seemed fine after the fall and was dropped off at home with the other two boys. Later that day the boy was found dead in his bed.
According to the New York Post, the teenager died from severe head trauma which allegedly occurred when he fell off the Uber vehicle Cheema was driving.
Suffolk County DA Timothy Sini said, "This was an incredibly bad decision by (Cheema) and the boys involved." Sini added, "But at the end of the day, this defendant is an adult who was contracted to safely bring those boys home and he failed to do that."
Cheema is due back in Suffolk County District Court later this week. He was released on a $400,000 bond.
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