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Texas teen who killed 6 Indians in 2023 crash sentenced to 65 years
Prosecutors said Resecker, who was 17 at the time, crossed the center line without braking, killing all six Indian occupants of the minivan.
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Malvika Choudhary - Tue, 11, Nov 2025
- 17:35 EST
- 17
Crime scene / Google
A Texas teen was sentenced to 65 years in prison for a head-on crash in Johnson County that killed six people of Indian origin—including two children—and severely injured two others just after Christmas in 2023.
According to the reports, authorities said 19-year-old Luke Garrett Resecker was under the influence of THC when he crossed into oncoming traffic and rammed into a Honda Odyssey minivan on Dec. 26, 2023, around 4 p.m., on U.S. Highway 67 near County Road 1119, south of Cleburne.
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The victims, including members of an Indian-origin family living in Georgia, had spent the day at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose and were driving home when Resecker’s 2014 Chevy Silverado veered into their lane. Toxicology confirmed active THC in Resecker’s system at the time of the crash, and investigators found THC inside the vehicle.
Prosecutors said Resecker, who was 17 at the time, crossed the center line without braking. The collision killed all six occupants of the minivan: 28-year-old driver Rushil Barri of Irving and five family members from Alpharetta, Georgia—Naveena Potabathula, 36; Nageswararao Ponnada, 64; Sitamahalakshmi Ponnada, 60; 10-year-old Krithik Potabathula; and 9-year-old Nishidha Potabathula.
Barri’s relatives had been visiting from Georgia and India. The family had spent the holiday visiting wildlife before the fatal crash. A friend had told CBS News Texas the group was “excited to see the animals” earlier that day.
Two survivors—Resecker’s passenger and another member of the Barri family—suffered severe injuries. Prosecutors said one survivor was left paralyzed from the waist down, while Resecker’s 17-year-old passenger sustained a traumatic brain injury.
Assistant District Attorneys Connor Day and Stephanie Miller, who prosecuted the case for Johnson and Somervell counties, called the crash “a sobering reminder of the irreversible consequences of impaired and reckless driving.”
Resecker was initially charged with six counts of intoxication manslaughter, two counts of intoxication assault, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of marijuana.
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