INDIANAPOLIS, IN – An attempted traffic stop in Indianapolis spiraled into a deadly tragedy when a sports car, fleeing from the police, crashed into another vehicle. The horrific accident claimed the lives of three individuals, including a 14-year-old boy.
The incident began on Tuesday night when a state trooper tried to pull over a Dodge Challenger for suspected reckless driving in the eastern part of the city. The driver, however, decided to evade the police, sparking a chase that lasted approximately 12 minutes and covered various city streets and rural areas in adjacent Hancock County.
The police made several attempts to stop the car using stop sticks, but were unsuccessful. As the car moved from a sparsely populated rural area back towards the city, the officers decided to terminate the pursuit at 9:50 p.m., largely due to the driver’s increasingly dangerous driving behavior.
In a tragic turn of events, shortly after the chase was called off, the police were notified of a severe accident involving two vehicles in the vicinity of where the pursuit had started. The fleeing Dodge Challenger, carrying three people, had run a red light and collided at a high speed with a car driven by a solitary woman.
The woman, 21-year-old Makayla Hankins, was rushed to the hospital but unfortunately did not survive her injuries. The two passengers in the Challenger, Christian Leyba-Gonzalez, 14, and Jose Gonzalez Jr., 32, were also pronounced dead at the hospital after being extracted from the mangled wreckage.
The driver of the Challenger, identified as 19-year-old Luis Leyba-Gonzalez, sustained minor injuries and was arrested on a preliminary charge of resisting law enforcement causing death. As of Wednesday, no formal charges had been filed and it was not known if Leyba-Gonzalez had secured legal representation.