SALT LAKE CITY – A man is now facing charges that include three counts of automobile homicide, and the charges stem from a high-speed chase that culminated in a crash that left three teenagers dead in May.
Court documents state 24-year-old Jonathan Ulises Analco-Cruz was under the influence of drugs and had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system as he drove down I-80 at more than 100 miles per hour on May 17.
He has been charged with three counts of automobile homicide criminal negligence DUI of alcohol/Drugs—which is a second-degree felony according to the document. He has also been charged with failure to stop or respond at the command of police, a second-degree felony, and possession of forgery writing/device, a third-degree felony.
He was also charged with driving on a revoked license, which is a misdemeanor.
Police attempted to pull the man over near the airport, but he fled. The man subsequently crashed the car into a pond, and three passengers in the car were killed: 14-year-old Randy Ruiz of Midvale, 17-year-old Hardinger Cruz of Salt Lake City, and 18-year-old Michaela Martin of Taylorsville—who officials said was in a relationship with the suspect.
Martin’s mother, Ida Garcia, spoke to FOX 13 News in May.
“There’s three innocent lives,” she said in May. “They had no control what the driver was doing. I’m sure they were yelling at him, telling him to slow down.”
Analco-Cruz was seriously injured in the crash.
