INDIANAPOLIS — A 19-year-old man who was charged in connection with a fatal Tuesday night crash that killed three people has been released from jail.
According to court documents filed in Marion County on Thursday, Luis Leyba-Gonzalez was charged with three counts of resisting law enforcement resulting in death, a Level 3 felony, and three counts of reckless driving causing death, a Level 5 felony.
As previously reported, Leyba-Gonzalez was driving a dodge challenger with his brother and cousin as passengers. According to a probable cause affidavit, he was driving at speeds as high as 140 mph.
Police said they tried to pull over the vehicle but Leyba-Gonzalez refused to stop. A 12 minute pursuit took place, but ISP later terminated the pursuit for safety reasons.
Minutes later, Leyba-Gonzalez ran a red light and crashed into another vehicle near 10th and Mitthoefer around 10 p.m. Tuesday evening.
Three people died as a result. The Marion County Coroner's office identified the victims as 14-year old Christian Leyba-Gonzalez and 31-year-old Jose Gonzalez Jr., who were in the same car as the driver.
21-year-old Makayla Hankins, who was in the other vehicle, also died.
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According to court documents, Leyba-Gonzalez told police at the hospital that he wanted “to claim full accountability for the crash.”
"According to Luis, his cousin was in the front passenger seat and his brother was in
the back seat. Luis said his cousin had never ridden in his Challenger before, so he took his cousin and his brother out joyriding to impress them. Luis said while joyriding the police attempted to stop them, and he panicked. Luis said he fled from law enforcement, went through an intersection, and struck another vehicle. Luis said he did not remember anything immediately after the crash and did not know if the police were still chasing him," court documents state.
Court records show Lebya-Gonzalez posted a $1,000 bond and a $50,000 surety bond and has been released. You must pay 10% of the surety bond.
