Destini Decoff (Facebook)
A young woman is now dead and her accused killer is behind bars after an “apparent road rage incident” on a state highway in Massachusetts turned deadly late last week, authorities say.
Destini Decoff, 26, was hit by a car so hard that her jacket was knocked off her body and landed several feet away, one witness said.
Days later, she succumbed to her wounds.
Now, Ryan Sweatt, 36, faces charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, operating to endanger, and a marked lanes violation, according to a press release issued by the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office.
The incident occurred on April 4, just outside of a pub on Route 85 in Hopkinton — a medium-sized town about 25 miles west of Boston.
Brett Martin was at Cornell’s Pub on the night in question — he told CBS News he heard the screech of a car and then ran outside to gauge the extent of the commotion and saw Decoff hurtling through the air.
“We could tell there was a little road rage going on,” Martin told the local CBS affiliate. “I saw her midair kind of coming down towards the street … her jacket must’ve been 20 feet away from her. However she got hit, those clothes flew off.”
The apparent road rage contretemps began with Sweatt driving behind the car Decoff was in. Immediately, versions differ.
Sweatt told police the driver of the car in front slammed on the brakes, then four people got out of the car, surrounded his Honda Civic, and began threatening his life — one of them brandishing a knife, according to CBS News and Boston-based ABC affiliate WCVB.
“They’re trying to kill me,” Sweatt told a police officer immediately after the woman was hit. An officer recounted the defendant pointed back toward a group of five people: four standing over a woman in a pool of blood, according to court documents obtained by CBS News.
The occupants of the other car say Sweatt was riding their bumper so they pulled over, according to the victim’s mother, Tracy Decoff, on Facebook. At some point, Decoff and others got out of their car.
“Today my biggest fear as a mother became my reality,” she wrote in one of many follow-up posts on Sunday after her daughter finally passed on. “My first born child & best friend is no longer with me.”
In an earlier post, the victim’s mother recalled the kind of person her daughter was — insisting her story was not over.
“She brought life and love wherever she went & will continue to do so wherever she goes,” Tracy Decoff wrote.
Authorities and witnesses say Sweatt had several opportunities to extricate himself from whatever the situation was without violence.
During an arraignment on Friday, a prosecutor told the Framingham District Court the defendant drove away once, then turned around and drove toward the group from the other car — passing them by before making a second U-turn and then slamming directly into Decoff.
“He turned around multiple times, and he could have just kept going,” Martin told CBS News. “He chose to turn around. He knew what he was doing when he went towards that girl.”
The impact occurred “at a high rate of speed,” prosecutors say.
Surveillance footage corroborated that version of events, Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Pavan Nagavelli reportedly told the court.
The pub-goer picked up the woman’s jacket and covered her with it, an action that elicited praise from her heartbroken mother.
“Please let him know the world needs more people like him in it,” Tracy Decoff told CBS News. “What he did for my child goes far beyond a simple thank you.”
A GoFundMe for the victim’s family tersely recounts the tragedy.
“On April 6th, Destini was tragically taken from us after being intentionally struck by a vehicle,” the fundraiser reads. “Her family is asking for help with the cost of her final arrangements. Anything you can donate would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.”
According to the courtroom report by WCVB, the defendant appeared to register surprise at the extent of the victim’s injuries.
In the defendant’s latest Facebook profile post, from March 2023, he appeared to struggle with mental health issues.
“Honestly what is so wrong about me??” Sweatt wrote. “Clearly something is wrong but I can’t see it. I can’t fix what I don’t know is broken.”
He is being held without bail. His next hearing is slated for April 10.
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