The Associated Press

NEW ALBANY, Ind. - Prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a 16-year-old boy for participating in what they think was a street race that ended with two people dead and nine injured.

Charges of involuntary manslaughter and participating in a speeding contest were filed Thursday against Kevin Whitler II of Borden.

Investigators say Whitler was driving about 75 mph when 16-year-old Nicholas Olson of New Albany tried to pass him going about 85 mph. Police said Olson then could not avoid a merging or stopped car.

Olson's sport utility vehicle spun out of control, rolled and hit a van driven by Celia Hernandez, 46. Both were killed in the July 5 crash near New Albany, a city just north of Louisville.

Prosecutors plan to pursue the case against Whitler in juvenile court. If he were tried as an adult, Whitler could face up to four years in prison on the charges.

Whitler's defense attorney said investigators were basing the charges on several assumptions, including that the skid marks on the road were left by the vehicles involved in the accident.

"Nothing that my client did caused the accident," Stan Faith said. "It is the other car that bumped into my client's car."

Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson said that even though the two drivers racing did not know each other, both were still responsible for the crash.

"Both vehicles are liable and both drivers are liable," Henderson said.

Six members of the Hernandez family were hurt in the accident. One of them, 18-year-old Abraham, remains hospitalized with brain injuries at University Hospital in Louisville, said Barbara Anderson, a housing shelter director who has been helping the family.