A teen is currently facing the charge of first-degree murder for his role in a crash while attempting to flee from police that killed three other teens who were in the vehicle with him.
The Tucson.com website reported that the fatal crash on February 19th happened at approximately 11:00 a.m. when a deputy from the Pinal County Sheriff’s Department attempted to stop a driver with a temporary vehicle registration that was expired. The driver attempted to evade the deputy. The pursuit lasted only a short distance before the driver lost control of his vehicle and crashing into a concrete barricade.
Authorities have released the name of the driver as Juan Sanchez, 17. Sanchez informed deputies at the scene that he had been driving under the influence of marijuana. The crash victims, who were passengers in the vehicle Sanchez was driving have been identified as Amonte Deshawn Jones., 18, of Mesa, and Chase James Bulmahn, 18, of San Tan Valley. Authorities have not released the identity of a third passenger, a minor, and would only say that he was a 16-year- old male. All three passengers were declared dead at the scene.
Sanchez, who had been wearing his seatbelt at the time of the accident, suffered only minor injuries. None of the three teens that died in the crash were wearing seatbelts at the time.
During their investigation of Sanchez’ vehicle, deputies found drugs including marijuana, an AR-15 rifle, an MP40 sub-machine gun and a large amount of cash.
Sanchez is currently facing three counts of first-degree murder, one count of felony flight, and other related charges.
