A 6-year-old girl riding in a car with Honduran illegal immigrant Zelvin Gomez succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday after she was involved in a car crash. Gomez was arrested and found to have a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit. He is now facing charges of manslaughter.
Gomez was charged with driving under the influence as well as first-degree assault and is being held on $150,000 bond. Gomez had entered the US illegally, applied for asylum, had that application denied, and remained in the US. A detainer has been placed on him so that he can be dealt with by immigration authorities, per WKRG.
The crash occurred at around 3am on County Road 28 in Summerdale, Alabama. Gomez was driving, while the girl, his girlfriend, and their dog were passengers. After Gomez and his girlfriend argued, she and the dog left the vehicle while he continued on with the 6-year-old girl.
Then he crashed through a fence, flipped the vehicle, at which point the girl was ejected from the vehicle and then pinned under the car.
After Gomez was taken into custody, investigators disovered that his blood alcohol level was .22 — nearly threes times the legal limit. He was also going more than 20 miles over the speed limit.
First responders managed to free the girl and airlift her to a hospital via helicopter per FOX10, but she did not recover from those injuries.