Sunday crash leaves one driver dead, another arrested

An apparent street race in Richmond early Sunday morning left a teenaged driver dead and another man in handcuffs.

At 1:15 a.m. Sunday, police officers responded to a call at Richmond Parkway near Goodrick Avenue, said Capt. Mark Gagan of the Richmond Police Department.

“One car was a BMW 528 with three occupants,” Gagan said. “It had left the roadway and crashed into a light pole and ended up in a ditch.”

Gagan said the crash killed the BMW’s driver, 17-year-old Pablo Jaime, instantly. The BMW’s two other passengers were airlifted to John Muir Medical Center in critical condition, though both are expected to survive their injuries, Gagan said.

“As both cars were approaching the intersection of Goodrick Avenue eastbound, they clipped each other, causing both vehicles to lose control,” Gagan said.

Police arrested Israel Gomez, 21, on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving without a license and vehicular manslaughter.

“We’re trying to determine if alcohol was a factor and what role it played,” Gagan said. Police are waiting on blood-test toxicology reports to come back on both drivers, neither of whom had a driver’s license.

Gagan said police will ask the district attorney to pursue vehicular manslaughter charges if officers can prove the incident was indeed a street race.

Gomez’s car, a Nissan Altima, ran over the median on Richmond Parkway and to the opposite side of the road, though it didn’t hit oncoming traffic, Gagan said.

Gomez called the police after the incident, and told officers a third car was involved.

“He initially tried to pass off the incident as a hit and run, that there was a third vehicle that hit both their vehicles because they were traveling side by side and the third vehicle tried to pass between them,” Gagan said. “That was proven not to have occurred.”