A teenager accused of carjacking a Navy sailor and causing a crash that left the sailor brain dead pleaded not guilty Wednesday and will likely face a homicide charge when the sailor is taken off life support, according to prosecutors.
Family members told NBC 7 on Monday that 30-year-old Eddie Foster, a NAS North Island-based father of four, was working his second job delivering Amazon packages in Coronado at around 5:20 a.m. on June 11 when he was carjacked. Ricardo Gongora, 18, and a teenage girl he was with saw Foster leave his car running while making a drop-off and took a chance at stealing his car, according to prosecutors at Gongor's Wednesday arraignment.
Prosecutors say Foster saw Grongora get in his car and jumped on the hood to try and stop him. Gongora continued driving for at least two miles, swerving along the way to try and get Foster off the hood, according to prosecutors. Foster was screaming as he was being hauled down Orange Avenue, according to the criminal complaint read aloud in court. He was somehow able to call 911 and told the dispatcher to track his vehicle, at one point telling the dispatcher, "I'm going to die," the complaint said.
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Following Wednesday's court proceedings, Foster's wife, Ashley Foster, told NBC 7 she was supposed to be with Foster that morning and is agonizing over what may not have happened had she been there.
"I was supposed to be there with him," Ashley Foster said. "I didn't get to go that morning or I probably would've been there to protect him or something. He would've been in the car, he wouldn't have been out there running."
Following the crash, Gongora fled the scene and proceeded to run from police officers at least twice, prosecutors said.
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On Monday, Foster's family told NBC 7 he would remain on life support until doctors could secure his organs for donation, then he would be taken off.
"It was always his dream, many years ago, that he can be able to donate his organs if anything ever happened like this. That he could save lives, and he gets to do that," Foster's brother Lyle Durkin said. "He will be here with us, and he'll live through other people. He always wanted to touch other people's lives, and he can do that."
Durkin and Foster's mother, Diana Medlen, told NBC 7 Foster married his high school sweetheart and the couple has four kids aged 5 to 13.
Gongora and the teenage girl were not injured in the crash, police said. Gongora had drugs and alcohol in his system at the time of the carjacking, according to prosecutors. A judge denied him bail and supervised release.
Added charges for Grongora once Foster is taken off life support could land him in prison for 25 years to life, if convicted. He is due back in court later this month.
