Driver arrested for hitting and killing 16-year-old in Queens had prior arrests, was in US illegally, ICE says
ICE has lodged an immigration detainer against the driver accused of fatally striking a 16-year-old girl and injuring her mother and stepfather in Queens last weekend.
Jose Edwin Cruz Gomez, 38, was arraigned Sunday night on charges, including murder, attempted murder, vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, among other counts.
Police said Gomez was drunk and made crude sexual remarks to the victim and her mother before the crash.
Gomez is a Honduran national who illegally entered the country in Arizona in 2004, ICE officials said.
He had numerous prior arrests, including for drunk driving in January.
Each time, he was released from custody before ICE could lodge a detainer. Following his arrest last weekend in Queens, ICE agents have lodged an immigration detainer.
Prosecutors said Gomez was with several men outside the Prima Donna Restaurant, on Roosevelt Avenue between Elmhurst Avenue and Benham Street just after 4 a.m. on Saturday.
They say Gomez encountered the victim, 16-year-old Jhoanny Alvarez, with her mother, stepfather and her mother's boyfriend.
Prosecutors say Gomez then began harassing Alvarez and her mother, allegedly offering them both money for sexual acts.
"He was offering them money, trying to grab them, things that no one really knows," said eyewitness Carlos Alejandro said.
A verbal dispute ensued and then escalated into a physical fight between the mother's boyfriend and Gomez. Bystanders then intervened and separated the men.
After the confrontation, prosecutors say the victim, her mother, stepfather and the mother's boyfriend all walked away from the restaurant to the opposite side of Roosevelt Avenue, crossing Benham Street and stood a distance away.
That's when prosecutors say Gomez got into his 2009 Chevrolet Suburban, made a right turn onto Benham Street, drove onto the sidewalk directly at the group of four, including the 16-year-old, who was struck and killed after being pinned against a pole. Her mother and stepfather were also struck and injured, according to officials.
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