An 18-year-old man accused of causing fatal injuries to a Navy sailor after trying to steal his car in Coronado was charged with murder on Friday, officials said.
Ricardo Gongora is accused of carjacking 33-year-old Eddie Foster and causing a crash that left the Naval Air Station North Island-based father of four brain dead.
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Foster was working his second job delivering Amazon packages in Coronado at around 5:20 a.m. on June 11 when someone tried stealing his car. Gongora and a teenage girl saw Foster leave his car running while making a drop-off, according to prosecutors at Gongora's arraignment.
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SIGN UP Foster jumped on the hood to try and stop the carjacking, but Gongora continued driving for at least two miles, swerving along the way to get Foster off the hood, prosecutors said.
Foster was screaming while being hauled down Orange Avenue and called 911, telling dispatchers to track his car and that "he was going to be killed," prosecutors said.
Foster was thrown from the hood after the teen crashed near the Coronado Bridge, according to police.
Following the crash, Gongora fled the scene and proceeded to run from police officers at least twice, prosecutors said.
Gongora and the teenage girl were not injured in the crash, police said. Gongora had drugs and alcohol in his system at the time of the carjacking, according to prosecutors. A judge denied him bail and supervised release.
Gongora was also charged with carjacking, DUI, and hit and run with death or permanent serious injury, according to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. He is due back in court on Aug. 23 for a readiness hearing.
After Foster was taken off life support, his organs were donated.
"It was always his dream, many years ago, that he can be able to donate his organs if anything ever happened like this. That he could save lives, and he gets to do that," Lyle Durkin, Foster's brother, said. "He will be here with us, and he'll live through other people. He always wanted to touch other people's lives, and he can do that."
