{"id":52651,"date":"2026-07-19T21:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T21:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=52651"},"modified":"2026-07-19T21:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T21:33:12","slug":"us-boxer-hannah-rapp-struck-and-killed-by-driver-while-cycling-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2026\/07\/19\/us-boxer-hannah-rapp-struck-and-killed-by-driver-while-cycling-police-say\/","title":{"rendered":"US boxer Hannah Rapp struck and killed by driver while cycling, police say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

US boxer Hannah Rapp, who in June fought for the World Boxing Council (WBC) women\u2019s featherweight championship, was killed on Saturday while she bicycled in Texas after a motorist struck her with his car, according to authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rapp was 26, and investigators arrested a 31-year-old man identified as Charles Medina in connection with her death, the sheriff\u2019s office of Brazos county, Texas, said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agency said Rapp and a fellow bicyclist were riding on a local road when Medina passed them in his car, stopped, and drove his vehicle in reverse. Medina then hit Rapp, and she was pronounced dead after emergency responders brought her to a hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazos deputies said they booked Medina on a count of manslaughter, which Texas law defines as recklessly causing a person\u2019s death. The sheriff\u2019s office did not provide additional details, saying the \u201cisolated\u201d case remained under active and ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Word of Rapp\u2019s death prompted tributes from her colleagues in professional boxing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe loss of Hannah Rapp leaves us heartbroken,\u201d WBC president Mauricio Sulaim\u00e1n said in a prepared statement. \u201cShe was an exceptional boxer, but above all, an invaluable member of our boxing family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rapp had registered eight victories \u2013 including five by knockout \u2013 and drawn once during her first nine pro career bouts. For her 10th outing, the Yorktown, Indiana, native challenged Tiara Brown of Fort Myers, Florida, for her world title belt in the WBC\u2019s 126lb (57.2kg) weight class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown retained her belt with a unanimous decision win at Florida\u2019s Caribe Royal Orlando resort. Nonetheless, on Saturday, the champion wrote on social media that Rapp \u201cwas the best dance partner I have ever faced as a pro\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hannah<\/a>
Hannah Rapp and Tiara Brown. Photograph: Harry Aaron\/Most Valuable Promotions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe fought a GREAT fight for the fans from the [first] bell to the last,\u201d Brown wrote. \u201cIt was my honor to share the ring with her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medina\u2019s bond amount was not immediately set, and he remained in custody on Sunday morning, Brazos jail records show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those jail records also showed prior arrests for Medina on counts such as deadly conduct by discharging a firearm, assault causing bodily injury, and reckless driving. Dispositions for those cases weren\u2019t immediately available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medina could face between two and 20 years in prison under Texas law if eventually convicted of manslaughter in Rapp\u2019s death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US boxer Hannah Rapp, who in June fought for the World Boxing Council (WBC) women\u2019s featherweight championship, was killed on Saturday while she bicycled in Texas after a motorist struck her with his car, according to authorities. Rapp was 26, and investigators arrested a 31-year-old man identified as Charles Medina in connection with her death, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":52652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"theguardian","_post_source_url":"https:\/\/theguardian.com","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[183,5673,12750,5810,13175,7960,11282,10552,6083,7234,7583,5455,9026,5321,6789,69,6825,3442,11294,10197,7351,9515,10342,11341,12187,7968,421,3805,8306,5349,5355,6348,5320,36,7082],"class_list":["post-52651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-assault","tag-bond","tag-boxer","tag-boxing","tag-car","tag-case","tag-convicted","tag-dance","tag-dead","tag-death","tag-driver","tag-family","tag-fans","tag-florida","tag-grief","tag-harry","tag-hospital","tag-indiana","tag-injury","tag-investigation","tag-jail","tag-killed","tag-law","tag-manslaughter","tag-n","tag-nine","tag-police","tag-president","tag-prison","tag-social-media","tag-texas","tag-us","tag-women","tag-world","tag-world-title"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52653,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52651\/revisions\/52653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}