Driver, 19, Filmed Inhaling Laughing Gas Before 100 Mph Crash Pleads Guilty to Killing 3 Teenage Friends

A teenager has pleaded guilty to killing his three friends in a high-speed car crash after inhaling laughing gas.

Thomas Johnson, 19, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Oxford Crown Court in England on Wednesday, Dec. 18, after he crashed while under the influence of nitrous oxide and killed three teenage boys, the Thames Valley Police stated in a news release. 

The collision happened shortly after midnight on June 20, 2023, after Johnson drove his BMW 3 Series at speeds approaching 100 mph and “overtook a vehicle” in Marcham, Oxfordshire, with passengers Ethan Goddard and Daniel Hancock, both 18, and Elliot Pullen, 17, in tow. He then “lost control” of his car and hit a lamppost, stone wall and a large tree, killing his three friends, per the release.

“This was without a doubt one of the most catastrophic and tragic collisions I have ever investigated. The speeds at which Johnson was driving were staggering, particularly given the road he was driving on,” Senior Investigating Officer Detective Sergeant Tony Jenkins of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit said, adding of Johnson, “He did not set out that night to harm anyone, that was never our case. But his decisions did directly and tragically result in the deaths of Ethan, Elliot and Daniel.”

Johnson, who was also critically injured, was sentenced to nine years and four months in jail and disqualified from driving for 11 years and 11 weeks, according to the release.

In evidence obtained by police, Johnson was captured “apparently inhaling from a balloon, along with his front seat passenger” before the crash, while on the the mobile phones of the boys who died, Johnson was captured using nitrous oxide while he was driving. Canisters of nitrous oxide were also found inside the car after the incident, per the release. 

While being interviewed in November 2023, Johnson accepted he was the driver of the vehicle, though he claimed that he did not remember any of the events leading up to the crash or the incident itself, according to police. 

Johnson had had his license for less than a year at the time of the incident, the BBC reported. He was hospitalized for several months with critical injuries from the crash.

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Police said that a pharmacology expert confirmed that Johnson’s inhalation of nitrous oxide caused “disorientation and general impairment.” Evidence was also uncovered that the car’s traction control had been “deliberately switched off by Johnson,” per the release.

There was no evidence to suggest Johnson was intoxicated by another substance, according to police. 

Per the BBC, Goddard’s mother said that “a massive hole” has been left in the family following the tragedy. Hancock’s father added, “It’s very very painful, it’s 18 months on now and it never leaves you.”