A Coronado sailor’s family is still grieving his loss more than a year after he was killed trying to stop two teenagers from stealing his car. One of those teenagers was sentenced for his involvement in the sailor’s death. NBC 7’s Jeanette Quezada reports.
A young man who caused fatal injuries to a San Diego-based sailor after stealing the victim's car and crashing it in Coronado was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in state prison.
Ricardo Vazquez-Gongora, 19, was arrested last year for stealing 32-year-old Eddie Foster's car on June 11, 2023, then crashing it as Foster clung to the car's hood in an attempt to get the driver to stop.
Foster, a father of four, was moonlighting as an Amazon driver and delivering packages when his car was taken. The Bakersfield native, who was stationed at Naval Air Station North Island, was taken off life support a few days after the crash.
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Vazquez-Gongora, who turned 18 less than a month prior to the crash, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and agreed to the 15-year-to-life term.
Deputy District Attorney Makenzie Harvey said that on the night of the crash, Vazquez-Gongora and a teenage girl were left in Coronado without a ride home, but came upon Foster's car, which was running and unlocked while he was delivering a package.
After the teens got into his car, Foster jumped on the hood and was on the car for at least two miles as Vazquez-Gongora swerved the car back and forth in attempt to toss Foster from the car, during which time the victim was "pleading for his life," the prosecutor said.
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At some point, he was able to call 911 and told a dispatcher to track him and that "he was going to be killed," Harvey said.
The car ultimately crashed into old tollbooths at the start of the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, flinging Foster from the vehicle. Vazquez-Gongora and his teenage companion ran from the scene. Prosecutors said police found him hiding in bushes near the Coronado golf course and arrested him.
The victim's widow, Ashley Foster, could not be in Chula Vista Superior Court for Friday's sentencing hearing, but in a recorded statement played in court, she said her husband took on the delivery job to support her and their children.
"He did nothing but help people his entire life," she said.
Life will never be the same for Foster, she told the court.
"Nobody looks at me the same," Foster said. "Everybody looks at me with sympathy," adding later, "this man broke my kids, he broke me. This man took our life away." So give him 15 years."
With tears in her eyes Foster’s mother, Donna Medlen, walked up to share a very emotional statement
Medlen said that without her son, much of the family responsibilities have fallen on the shoulders of his eldest daughter, who is 14 years old.
Medlen described her son as "kind" and "generous," and said "All [Vazquez-Gongora] had to do was ask and my son would have gave him a ride home."
Medlen said she forgives Vazquez-Gongora, but told him she hopes he does work to better himself while he is in prison.
"I hope that you take this into your heart and you really, really try," Medlen said. "Do it for yourself ... Change your life. This is your one and only opportunity to do that."
In a statement released after the hearing, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said, "The victim in this case, who was a father working to support his family, tragically lost his life due to a set of circumstances set in motion by this defendant's utter disregard for human life. We hope the resolution of this case brings a measure of justice and closure to the victim's family."
