Jury Sees Body Cam Footage from Deadly Gruesome San Angelo Crash

SAN ANGELO – The jury trial of Antonio Gonzales for a crash that killed three teenagers in San Angelo began on Monday. 

Gonzales is charged with three counts of manslaughter as well as three counts of evading arrest that caused death for a crash that occurred on Mar. 19, 2021. Gonzales is accused of running from police before crashing his vehicle at the intersection of W. Avenue N and S. Bryant. Gonzales was 17 at the time. Others in the crash included a 17-year-old female, two 16-year-old males, and a 12-year-old male.

Three deaths occurred in the crash. Alexis Sorola-Villamil, Donaven Byers, and Fabien Sanchez. The indictment claims that Gonzales is responsible for their death because of the crash and because he ran from the police.

The jury was seated Monday. They were selected and sworn in on Oct. 17 when the trial began.  On Monday the charge was read to the jury and Gonzales entered a plea of not guilty. Opening statements were given by Assistant DA Richard Villareal and Gonzales's defense attorney John Sutton.

The first witness called to the stand was the officer who attempted to pull Gonzales over. San Angelo Police Officer Long with SAPD's motor traffic unit took the stand. During which his body cam footage was shown.

The video began at around 6:02 a.m. Officer Long was working traffic on the 1300 block of S. Abe. At one point he spotted a Silver Chevrolet Equinox driving at a high rate of speed. He turned his lights on and attempted to stop the Equinox. The officer attempted to catch up with the car but by the time he was at Ave L he saw the brutal crash. 

Officer Long immediately called for medics and made contact with Gonzales who had been ejected from the car. His face, as shown in his mugshot, scraped across the ground and was bleeding extensively. Cries from Gonzales about needing an inhaler and his grandmother were heard on the tape.

In the passenger seat another victim was crying out for help. He yelled at the officers that he was dying and that he could not breath. Officer Long did not hear and could not see the victims in the back seat at first. Medics eventually extracted the passengers in the front seat which then revealed the remaining victims in the back seat.

Defense attorney John Sutton did not ask many questions but the two most important thing he asked was "Why he did not use his siren?" and "Where was the other car?" Officer Long told the court that officers hardly use their sirens at night. The majority of use for a siren is during the day when police lights are hardly visible.

The answer to the other question was not completely answered. Because the trial was against Gonzales other cases cannot be brought up. Including the case of the State of Texas vs Benjamin Elder. Elder was the other truck involved. He fled the scene following the crash. For more on his story click here: ASU Baseball Player Indicted on 3 Counts of Accident Involving Death

The trial is expected to last the remainder of the week. If Gonzales is found guilty he could be facing 20 years in prison for each charge.