ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The man accused of hitting and killing a seven-year-old boy near the River of Lights is now booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center. He turned himself in at the Mexican border last week.
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Newly filed court documents confirm Sergio Almanza did in fact cross over into Mexico after the crime. They also reveal other details that KRQE News 13 asked prosecutors about.
Sergio Almanza was indicted last week on vehicular homicide and other charges. Police say he is the one who drove an ATV down Central and crashed into a family crossing the street at Tingley.
Seven-year-old Pronoy Bhattachrya was killed, and his father was injured. New court documents state there were three other people in the ATV at the time of the crash. News 13 asked if they could be facing charges. “At this point, law enforcement is still investigating all of that, so potentially yes they could,” said Greer Rose with the District Attorney’s office.
Rose says New Mexico law could make it difficult depending on their level of involvement in the case. “It is difficult at this point. We would have to look at their levels of responsibility, what they knew at the time, what encouragement they gave to Almanza,” said Rose.
The documents which are seeking pre-trial detention argue Almanza remains a danger state Almanza was tracking the case on social media, also that he fled to Mexico on Dec. 15, the day he was charged for the crime. Authorities have been actively searching for him since.
“US Marshals had been searching for him the entire time he was missing. He had a warrant out, they were definitely from what I understand closing in on his location,” Rose said.
Prosecutors have been combing through his criminal history which consists of what they call a reckless traffic history, drug, and gun charges. “It is interesting. His criminal history is sort of comingled with other names so we are actually trying to sort out if that is indeed him or if it is not,” said Rose.
The DA’s office says they are now trying to figure out if Almanza may have used aliases in previous arrests. “So at this point, I can’t say that he was using aliases or not for sure, which is why we told the court we were going to supplement our report once our crime strategies unit does a mini-investigation into which charges belong to him and which might not,” Rose said.
If convicted, Almanza could be looking at 27 years in prison. No date has been set for his pre-trial detention hearing.
