LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A street racing crash on Bardstown Road took the life of a 77-year-old Louisville woman, now her neighbors say the racing has to stop.
Myrtle Wacker's neighbors told WDRB she was mother, grandmother and joy to be around. She was killed on the night of Oct. 25, when a Ford Mustang racing a BMW hit her car going 120 miles an hour.
On Thursday night, parts of two cars still littered the side of the road near the intersection of Bardstown Falls Road and Bardstown Road. That's where police said a street race between a 2020 Ford Mustang driven by 42-year-old Yusnier Bernal and a blue BMW driven by 38-year-old Adam Steele ended in a horrific crash.
The crash killed Myrtle Wacker and seriously injured her 74-year-old husband Ronald.
One of the neighbors, Beverly Morris said the racing on Bardstown Road south of Interstate 265 is out of control. She said on weekends the sounds of high horsepower motors provides a constant roar. This time the racing went too far.
"There is a stretch where they don't have any lights, and so they know they can just fly," said Morris "That type of behavior ultimately innocent people get caught up in it. Now we have a life lost."
And it was that stretch of Bardstown road near the Bullitt County line where the crash happened. "I was terrified for a moment because I thought it was my husband. He could have been the one that pulled out."
Morris said almost every night the sound of racing tears through the quiet calm of their neighborhood. "I have heard some of these cars their engines just sound really loud. They don't sound like a regular car engine."
Bernal is facing multiple charges including murder, assault, wanton endangerment and operating a motor vehicle on an expired license. Steele is also facing a number of charges including racing a motor vehicle on a public highway, leaving the scene of an accident, tampering with physical evidence and operating a motor vehicle without a license.
Adam Steele (left) and Yusnier Bernal (right) face multiple charges connected to a fatal street racing crash on Bardstown Road on Oct. 18, 2024. (WDRB Image)
Both men have pleaded not guilty to their charges. Bernal's bond was set at $250,000. Steele's bond at $150,000 and agreed to grant a request for work release for his job as a psychiatric nurse practitioner. The judge ordered both men not to drive again for any reason. Their next court appearance is scheduled for November.
LMPD said it has seized at least 65 cars this year for street racing and take-over offenses. The street racing ordinance was recently revised shifting the focus of enforcement from the operator/owner of the vehicle to the vehicle itself, which means more cars are taken off the road for racing.
Morris and her husband have lived in their house for 31 years. They have seen the speeds on Bardstown road go from acceptable to outrageous. She said more needs to be done to stop innocent people like her neighbor from getting caught in the middle of a senseless street race.
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