The 18-year-old Durham man facing charges for his alleged role in a deadly street racing crash appeared before a judge on Monday.
A judge gave Ruiz Gomez a $1.5 million bond. The prosecutor had asked for a $500,000 bond and Gomez’s defense attorney requested a $100,000 bond.
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Gomez is charged with:
- Assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury
- Flee to elude arrest with a motor vehicle
- Misdemeanor death by vehicle
- Speed competition
- Failure to heed lights or siren
- Reckless driving - wanton disregard
- Driving while license revoked - not impaired
- Driving left of center
- Failure to burn headlamps
A deputy with the Durham County Sheriff's Office said around 11 p.m. Thursday, two vehicles were street racing near Carpenter Fletcher Road and North Carolina Highway 55. When the deputy attempted to stop the vehicles, one of the drivers immediately turned off the headlights and sped away and out of the deputy’s view.
Deputies said the suspect vehicle, a Ford pickup truck, was found a short time later, involved in a crash with a third, uninvolved vehicle, a Dodge Charger, at the intersection of North Carolina Highway 55 and Riddle Road.
Authorities said Jamal Parker, the driver of the Charger, was killed at the intersection.
WRAL News spoke with Elizabeth Reeves, Parker’s aunt, on Monday.
“[He was] always smiling, happy,” Reeves said of Parker. “He just wanted everybody to happy around him.
"[He had a] big heart, a giver. He would give his last, and his main priority was his children that's all that mattered to him. He worked hard to care for them."
Parker was a father of four, Reeves said.
Parker's family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for his funeral.
Troopers identified Gomez as the driver of the Ford pickup truck. Law enforcement told WRAL News that Gomez crashed into the Charger after running the traffic light.
Authorities took the passenger in Parker’s car to the hospital for injuries.
Gomez, who attended Hillside High School, is due back in court on Oct. 27. He is also ordered to have no contact with the victims’ family.