INDIANAPOLIS — Three people died after a vehicle that was the subject of an earlier Indiana State Police pursuit crashed on Indy's far east side.
The crash occurred at the intersection near 10th and Mitthoefer just before 10 p.m. Tuesday night.
According ISP Sergeant John Perrine, ISP officers were in pursuit of the vehicle that crashed, however pursuit was terminated five minutes before the crash occurred.
According to police, the pursuit began as a traffic stop for reckless driving near E. Washington Street and Mitthoeffer Road.
Debris from the crash remains in Michael Danner's front yard.
"I heard a loud skid and crash — like a big explosion type crash — and I could feel the shaking of the house. Debris was falling from the sky," said Danner. "I've never seen anything like this. They said the car was going at least 115 MPH. He was airborne and then landed right here in the yard."
Police say they tried to pull over a dodge challenger driven by 19-year-old Luis Leyba-Gonzalez, who refused to stop. A 12 minute pursuit took place, but then ISP said it ended it for safety concerns.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the highest speed police recorded was approximately 140 MPH.
"As this vehicle was fleeing, it was traveling at high speeds. As the pursuit continued longer and longer, some of those speeds got higher," said Sgt. Perrine. "The pursuit led to a very rural, unpopulated area of Hancock County but as that pursuit started making it back toward that populated area, where the risk to encounter innocent citizens significantly increased, was another factor to the pursuit being terminated."
Minutes after, police say Leyba-Gonzalez ran a red light, struck an innocent driver and crashed.
Court documents say Leyba-Gonzalez told police his cousin was in the front passenger seat and his brother was in the back seat. His cousin has never ridden in a challenger before, so he was trying to impress him. Leyba-Gonzalez says when the police attempted to pull them over, he panicked and fled from law enforcement.
Leyba-Gonzalez says he did not remember anything immediately after the crash and did not know if the police were still chasing him, according to the affidavit.
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 has been identified as the separate driver.
"I felt bad because I went down to try and help her but she was deceased on the scene. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do," said Danner.
Danner said he and neighbors did the best they could to help her and then rushed to stop the driver's car from becoming fully engulfed in flames.
"The man in the car was telling us he was pinned. He couldn't get out of the seat. You could hear the crackling of the fire inside the car. It was burning his leg. [My neighbor] got on top of the car and sprayed down inside to take out the fire until rescue could help. Unfortunately, the other two were deceased," said Danner.
Leyba-Gonzalez has been charged with resisting law enforcement resulting in death.
Sgt. Perrine said troopers made it clear that they were no longer chasing him.
"When the factors are determined that the risk is too high, the involved officers immediately shut off lights and sirens and go the opposite direction. They no longer follow the vehicle, don't get ahead. They document description of vehicle and investigation ensues from there," said Sgt. Perrine.
He said it's a heartbreaking situation for everyone involved.
"It's going to take awhile to get over that the trauma of it. I can still hear the woman say she didn't make it. That was very traumatic," said Danner.
Leyba-Gonzalez suffered minor injuries.
