INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana State Police are investigating a serious crash with multiple fatalities near 10th Street and Mitthoeffer Road in Indianapolis. The crash happened minutes after troopers terminated a vehicle pursuit that involved the driver who caused the crash.
At approximately 9:37 p.m. an Indiana State Trooper attempted to pull over a Dodge Challenger for reckless driving near East Washington Street and Mitthoeffer Road. The driver 19-year-old Luis Leyba-Gonzalez refused to stop and a pursuit continued for approximately 12 minutes, routing on several city streets while heading east out of Indianapolis and into rural areas of Hancock County. Several officers from ISP and other agencies were trying to get into position to deploy stop sticks, however, they were unable to get into position.
At 9:50 p.m. the troopers who were involved made the decision to terminate the pursuit based on several factors. Those factors include the aggressive and reckless driving by the suspect and the suspect had turned around and was leaving a rural, low populated area, and driving back toward Indianapolis. Upon termination of the pursuit, all involved officers deactivated their emergency lights and sirens and disengaged, leaving the area in the opposite direction of the suspect vehicle.
At 9:55 p.m. Indiana State Police Dispatchers overheard a radio transmission from the Indianapolis Fire Department about a serious crash near Mithoeffer Road and 10th Street. Due to the recent pursuit in the area, troopers responded to the area. Upon arrival, the first trooper gave information about three critically injured, unresponsive people. He found two heavily damaged vehicles, one of which appeared to be the Dodge Challenger from the earlier pursuit. Both vehicles involved in the crash were Dodge vehicles.
Emergency personnel arrived on the scene and transported one critically injured adult female, 21-year-old Makayla Hankins, to an area hospital, despite life-saving efforts, she was later pronounced deceased at the hospital. Makayla was the sole occupant of the second Dodge vehicle involved in the accident.
Inside the Dodge Challenger were three people, all heavily entrapped in the wreckage. Two of the three inside were unresponsive to verbal communication.
The Indianapolis Fire Department worked hastily to extricate the entrapped occupants that were inside the Dodge Challenger. Two of the three people inside the Dodge Challenger were transported by ambulance, they were later pronounced deceased at the hospital. They were identified by the Marion County Coroner’s Office as 14-year-old Christian Leyba-Gonzalez and 31-year-old Jose Gonzalez, both of Indianapolis.Â
Indiana State Police Crash Reconstructionists, along with Detectives, responded to the scene to conduct the investigation. A preliminary investigation determined the driver of the Dodge Challenger failed to stop at a red light at the intersection of 10th Street and Mitthoeffer Road and was traveling at an extremely high speed. The Dodge Challenger struck another Dodge vehicle in the intersection.
Probable cause was established to arrest the driver of the Dodge Challenger. The driver Luis Leyba-Gonzalez, the sole survivor of the car crash, now faces the preliminary charge of resisting law enforcement causing death, a Level 2 Felony.
This investigation is ongoing and there is no further information to release. All suspects are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.
The Indiana State Police was assisted by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Indianapolis Fire Department, Indianapolis Emergency Medical Service, Marion County Coroner’s Office, and the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
