A Queens man has been indicted for allegedly causing the deaths of two passengers, including a teenaged girl, while driving recklessly in the Bronx last month, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark announced Tuesday.
Enrique Lopez, 23, of Far Rockaway faces a laundry list of criminal charges including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault, reckless endangerment, and endangering the welfare of a child, in relation to a Jan. 21 car crash in Hunts Point that killed two of his passengers — 15-year-old Sabrina Villagomez and 21-year-old Giovante Roberson — and put another 17-year-old passenger, Aaliyah Torres, in a coma.
Lopez was allegedly performing dangerous stunts in the early hours of the morning in a Chrysler 300 sedan with the three passengers in tow, including donuts and other tricks as a crowd of other gearheads watched on the sidelines. Just after 3:15 a.m., Lopez allegedly hit the accelerator and drove more than twice the speed limit eastbound on Viele Avenue, before losing control and smashing sideways into a parked oil tanker at the intersection with Bryant Avenue.
Villagomez was seated in the backseat while Roberson was in the front passenger seat. Both were taken to Lincoln Hospital where they were pronounced dead. Torres was taken to Saint Barnabas Hospital and placed in a medically induced coma, while Lopez was taken to Harlem Hospital in stable condition.
Clark noted that “it is fortunate that more lives were not ruined.”
In addition to the charges related to Villagomez’s and Roberson’s deaths, and Torres’ injuries, Lopez was also charged with criminal possession of stolen property because a pilfered Hellcat engine was recovered from his Chrysler.
Villagomez and Torres were both students at Ramapo High School in the Hudson Valley, according to the Journal News. Both were members of Spring Valley’s Youth & Police Initiative, the Journal News reported. It’s not clear how they knew Lopez and Roberson. Fellow students and community members memorialized Villagomez and prayed for Torres’ recovery at a vigil last month.
Lopez, who was released from city custody on bail, is due back in court on June 5.
