Family honors sailor killed in carjacking attempt, celebrates organ donation

The family of a Coronado-based Navy sailor killed following a carjacking attempt last weekend celebrated the young father's life, and the donation of his organs.

Eddie Foster was critically injured last Sunday morning — he jumped on the hood of his car in an attempt to try and stop two teenagers from stealing it and ended up being thrown from the hood miles later after the teen crashed near the Coronado Bridge, according to police.

Foster was on life support for the past five days. On Friday afternoon, family and UC San Diego Medical Center staffers held an honor ceremony to celebrate his life and his life-saving parting gift.

Foster's mother, Diana Medlen, said donating his heart, liver, lungs and kidneys was Foster's last act of kindness.

“He saved three lives. He’s a hero," Medlen, said.

Ricardo Gongora, the 18-year-old accused of stealing Foster's car, was arraigned on Thursday but will likely have a homicide charge added now that Foster is dead, according to prosecutors. Gongora was also with a teenage girl who has not been identified, police said.

“I just want justice for my husband,” Foster's wife Ashley Foster said.

The Fosters are parents to four children between the ages of 5 and 13 years old. Foster was a Navy Aviation Technician for three years, but was working his side job as an Amazon delivery driver when Gongora allegedly tried to steal his car.

Navy Chaplin Lt. Steven Schwartz, who started as an aviation technician and worked in the same shop as Foster, came to Friday’s honor ceremony.

“When you join you have a family, you have brothers and sisters automatically, they’re wearing the same uniform, they speak the same language, they go where you go,“ Lt. Schwartz said.

Foster was able to call 911 as he held on to the hood of his Honda Accord, with Gongora allegedly swerving to shake Foster loose for several blocks. Gongora then crashed into what's left of old toll booths at the beginning of the bridge, according to police.

“I can’t believe this is happening, he doesn’t know what he has done to my family. Our kids get to grow up without a dad now,“ Ashley Foster said.

Foster and his mother decided to become organ donors, although she could never have imagined he would be first.

“I would like him remembered with joy with laughter smiling,“ Medlen said.

“It gave me a sense of relief and a sense of pride at the same time seeing my brother honored," Foster's Lyle Durkin said. "I just want everybody to know that he’s up there smiling and looking down on us."

Friday’s ceremony also included an honor walk inside the hospital from Foster's room to the operating room where family members were able to say their goodbyes.

Foster will be buried in Bakersfield National Cemetery, in the city where he grew up.

In court, prosecutors said Gongora had drugs and alcohol in his system at the time of the carjacking. A judge denied him bail and supervised release.