Tributes are pouring in across the boxing world after 26-year-old boxer Hannah Rapp was killed while out cycling over the weekend.
According to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, Rapp was riding on Texas’ FM 159 with another cyclist—identified by several news outlets as her boyfriend—when a vehicle driven by Charles Medina passed them on the roadway.
“After passing the bicyclists,” the sheriff’s office said, “Mr. Medina stopped his vehicle, reversed, and struck one of the cyclists.”
What Happened to Hannah Rapp?
Medina, who has since been charged with manslaughter, was allegedly moving at a high speed when he passed the pair around 10 a.m. on July 18. In a probable cause statement obtained by NBC News, Deputy Sheriff Mike Stumpf wrote that Rapp’s boyfriend reacted by raising his arms and yelling toward the driver.
Stumpf wrote that Medina then “slammed on his brakes and skidded to a stop before putting his vehicle into reverse,” and allegedly “rapidly accelerated in reverse and struck Rapp with his vehicle, knocking her backwards into the roadway.”
Authorities said Rapp hit the vehicle’s rear window before being thrown back onto the road.
Medina later told investigators he thought the cyclists were “trying to flag him down,” which is why he hit the brakes, according to the probable cause statement. He also told the sheriff’s office he did not see Rapp “until the last moment before he hit her,” officials said.
Although Medina allegedly claimed he had been driving about 15 mph, investigators said skid marks found at the scene indicated the vehicle had been reversing quickly, according to court records.
“The angle of the reverse skid marks,” Stumpf wrote, “appeared as if the defendant was steering towards something while backing up.”
First responders arrived at the scene and found Rapp lying in the roadway, the sheriff’s office said in their statement. Though she was transported to a local hospital, she succumbed to her injuries.
Boxing Community Mourns Hannah Rapp
Rapp had been a rising star in the boxing world. The 26-year-old went undefeated in her first nine professional boxing matches and had five career wins by knockout, WISH TV reports.
Last month, she took on WBC Women’s Featherweight Champion Tiara Brown, losing in the tenth round.
As coach Carl Perry told the outlet, “I think she would have become a hall of famer.”
Perry added that she “had positivity just coming from her,” saying, “If there truly are angels on Earth, she was one of them.”
Though she grew up in Yorktown, Indiana, Rapp later moved to College Station, Texas and trained at Bryan College Station Boxing Gym.
Perry said he broke down and cried after hearing of her death.
“She did not deserve this,” he said, according to WISH TV. “He destroyed a beautiful soul.”
The World Boxing Council also expressed their condolences after Rapp’s death.
“The loss of Hannah Rapp leaves us heartbroken. She was an exceptional boxer, but above all, an invaluable member of our boxing family,” WBC President Mauricio Sulaimán said in statement provided to KHOU. “We join in the grief that overwhelms her loved ones, her team, and all those who had the privilege of knowing and supporting her throughout her brilliant career.”
Medina is currently being held at the Bexar County Jail on a $250,000 bond, according to jail records reviewed by Oxygen. It’s unclear whether he has retained an attorney.
