Single vehicle fatal collision update

On Sunday the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office was asked to assist the Maricopa Police Department with a fatal collision investigation.

Maricopa Police Department reported it had attempted to stop a 1998 Pontiac Grand Am at Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and Hartman Road at 9:03 p.m.

The Pontiac fled, and officers terminated the pursuit. Eleven minutes after MPD terminated the pursuit, the vehicle was involved in a single vehicle collision on Murphy Road, approximately one quarter mile north of Honeycutt Road.

The Pontiac had five male occupants in it at the time of the collision. The driver and front seat passenger fled the crash scene on foot and have not been located.

Eric Rey Mendez Garcia, 24, was in the rear seat and was pronounced deceased at the scene. Rear seat passenger Edgardo Morales Soriano, 22, was taken by air ambulance to Maricopa Medical Center and is currently in extremely critical condition.

Rear seat passenger Juan Pablo Aquino, 22, was transported to Maricopa Medical Center to be treated for a broken right clavicle and multiple abrasions. After Aquino was treated at the hospital, he was interviewed by deputies.

Aquino told deputies that he and the other two rear seat passengers paid unknown “coyotes” $3,000 each to be taken from Mexico to Los Angeles. When officers tried to stop their vehicle, the “coyote” drove away at a high rate of speed. Aquino said they could no longer see the officers behind them, but the “coyote” kept driving fast and ultimately lost control of his vehicle and crashed. Aquino reported he and the other two rear seat passengers were incapacitated following the collision, but the two “coyotes” ran away.

Following the interview, Aquino was turned over to U.S. Border Patrol.

“This is yet another tragic result of human smuggling, where the coyotes (human smuggling guides) have no regard for human life,” said Sheriff Paul Babeu. “Not only did this case cost one individual his life, but it also put the other two passengers and countless citizens at risk on our Pinal County roadways.”