Rock Hill teen was street racing when chiropractor, wife died in crash, prosecutor says
A Rock Hill teen has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty in what prosecutors say was a street racing incident in February that left a York County chiropractor and his wife dead.
Justin Rafael Valdez, 19, was sentenced to six years in the S.C. Department of Corrections Thursday by visiting South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Brian Gibbons. Valdez pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless homicide in the deaths of Donald and Teresa Hewetson.
Gibbons suspended the remaining 14 years of a 20-year prison sentence and required three years probation after prison.
The charges carry a maximum of 20 years in prison -- 10 years for each count of reckless homicide.
Hewetson family members in court asked for Valdez to serve the maximum of 20 years.
Valdez’s lawyers disputed in court that the crash was street racing.
The fatal crash
Sixteenth Circuit Assistant Solicitor Matthew Shelton said in court that Valdez reached speeds of up to 95 MPH seconds before the head-on crash on Celanese Road Feb. 20. Rock Hill Police Department officers found private surveillance video of the crash and had other evidence from witnesses, which indicated racing between Valdez and another car driven by an unidentified driver, Shelton said.
Valdez was weaving in and out of traffic and had passed cars before hitting the Hewetson’s car head-on, Shelton said in court.
“There is no other way to describe it other than racing,” Shelton said.
The incident happened around 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday night on one of York County’s busiest roads where Valdez put countless lives in danger, Shelton said. A passenger in Valdez’s car was injured, Shelton said.
Unsafe speed
Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett said in court that driving on York County highways at such high speeds cannot be tolerated. No driver on a highway, speeding close to 100 mph, especially in this case a teen such as Valdez, can keep control of a vehicle, Brackett said.
Valdez also has previous speeding tickets, Brackett said.
“The roads are not a NASCAR course,” Brackett said. “The end result is going to be fatal.”
Defendant denies racing
In police interviews, Valdez denied street racing, court testimony showed.
Valdez said in court he was sorry for his actions and grieves for the Hewetson family. Valdez said he hopes no other young person would make such a mistake.
“I am so sorry and can only ask for forgiveness from this family,” Valdez said.
Valdez was represented by lawyers Montrio Belton and Jim Morton. Belton said in court Valdez disputes racing at the time of the crash.
“We don’t dispute the fact that Justin was weaving in and out of traffic,” Belton said. “We acknowledge he was driving too fast...Justin and the passenger in the car adamantly refute that he was racing.”
Belton said Valdez has remorse and was known in the community as fine young man. Valdez graduated from York Preparatory Academy in 2020.
“What we have here is a young man who for two or three minutes out of his life, made a terrible mistake,” Belton said. “This is a caring, Christian young man.”
The victims
Donald Hewetson was a well-known York County chiropractor who had practiced in Rock Hill for three decades, officials and family members said. Teresa Hewetson worked at her husband’s Carolina Chiropractic clinic on Ebenezer Road, according to family.
Family members of Hewetson said in court both victims were dedicated family and community members who had hundreds of patients and dedicated their lives to the health of the public.
This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 2:52 PM.
