Cause of death revealed for Bay Area man jailed after street race that orphaned twin girls
The Redwood City man who was found dead in his jail cell in March a month after he was convicted in a street-racing crash that killed a Bay Area couple died from an accidental drug overdose, the Chronicle has learned.
Kyle Harrison, 25, was found unresponsive in a cell at the Maple Street Correctional Center in Redwood City on March 15. He was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading no contest to two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter and one count of felony street racing that resulted in death or great bodily injury.
Then 23, Harrison and a teenager were convicted of street racing down El Camino Real in Redwood City in 2022 before the teenager crashed into a family at speeds topping out between 99 mph and 122 mph. The couple, Grace Spiridon and Greg Ammen, were killed. Their twin 7-year-old daughters survived the crash.
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Thursday that the accidental overdose was found to be from prescription drugs, not illicit drugs, but would not go into further detail on the toxicology report. He said his office was evaluating whether there was any improper or unlawful conduct by the correctional staff that played a role in Harrison's death.
In a statement to the Chronicle, Harrison's family members said they were still in shock.
'We are beyond heartbroken with the outcome of this whole process,' they said.
Tennille Duffy, Harrison's attorney, said that given the coroner's conclusion, she and the family were expecting an investigation within the sheriff's office as to how his death could have occurred.
'We still do not have any answers about how this tragic loss of our loved one Kyle happened,' she said in a joint statement with the family.
Gretchen Spiker, a spokesperson for the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, said the department had not yet received official findings from the coroner or from the DA's office. Sheriff's officials could not comment until the office was informed otherwise, she said.
On a Friday evening in November 2022, Harrison, was driving a BMW with other passengers when he and a teenager raced down El Camino Real at an intersection close to where San Carlos turns into Redwood City. Harrison fell behind in the race, going about 80 mph, as the teenager zoomed down the busy thoroughfare in his 2005 E-Class Mercedes Benz.
The Chronicle is not naming the teenager because he was a minor at the time of the crash.
Half a mile after the race began, the teenager plowed through an intersection and crashed into a family turning left on the opposite side of El Camino Real. The explosive crash killed Grace Spiridon, 42, and her husband, Greg Ammen, 44. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Their daughters survived the crash with injuries and were swiftly put under the care of their aunt and uncle.
The teenager could have faced decades in prison, but because he was two months shy of his 18th birthday, he was prosecuted in juvenile court. He was convicted of two counts of vehicular manslaughter and one count of racing a motor vehicle, with enhancements for causing great bodily injury.
During his two years in juvenile hall, he completed high school, took classes through Skyline College, received therapy, guitar and deejay lessons and had access to yoga and meditation. The services he received in custody upset the victims' family, who had pushed for him to be transferred to adult court.
He was released after spending two years and two months in juvenile hall, with an additional 90 days of home detention.
After Harrison's death in March, Duffy said her client had been talking about putting money aside when he was released to pay restitution to the twin girls. He had been 'devastated' by the role he had played in the crash, she said.
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