A Honduran illegal immigrant who crashed into several parked cars two years ago while driving drunk is now accused of killing a woman in a second DUI crash in Indiana.
The suspect, Edwin Alexander Sosa-Gonzalez, fled the scene after the Sept. 26 crash on the west side of Indianapolis, Indiana, and faces several felony charges, including OWI causing death, police said.
In this most recent crash, 22-year-old Sosa-Gonzalez allegedly struck and killed an innocent bystander who was walking through a gas station parking lot. She was identified as 33-year-old Tamara Renee Thomas.
Officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department located Sosa-Gonzalez — after he fled on foot and told the owner of the vehicle to report it stolen — and arrested him later that night.
Sosa-Gonzalez was given a breathalyzer test and reportedly blew a .229, which is more than three times the legal limit. Police also said the Indiana BMV computer system later revealed that he had never received a valid driver’s license, WTHR 13News reported.
On Sept. 30, he was formally charged with causing death while operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, causing death while operating a motor vehicle with an ACE of .08 or more, operating a motor vehicle without ever having received a license resulting in death and failure to remain at the scene of an accident.
When police found and arrested Sosa Gonzalez, he allegedly said in Spanish, “How many did I kill?” per court records obtained by WTHR 13 News.
Indianapolis police arrested Sosa-Gonzalez in 2024 for another suspected DUI crash, and he was transferred to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Instead of being processed for removal, he was released on bond just one day after entering custody under the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
According to a DHS news release, an immigration judge ordered Sosa-Gonzalez to be removed from the country in June.
ICE lodged another immigration detainer for Sosa-Gonzalez with the Marion County Jail on Sept. 27.
“This disaster was completely avoidable, and were it not for the reckless open-border policies of the Biden Administration, this woman would still be alive,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. “My thoughts and prayers are with Tamara’s family and friends.”
FOX59/CBS4 reported IMPD officers responded to the scene around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26 on reports of a personal injury hit-and-run crash.
Investigators determined that a 2002 Honda CRV, driven by Sosa-Gonzalez, was travelling at a high rate of speed before striking another vehicle and then Thomas.
“It’s just a tragic event: we have a woman minding her own business, struck by someone who obviously has no regard for human life, driving recklessly,” IMPD Night Watch Captain Rob Rider told FOX59/CBS4.
According to court records, the Honda CRV sustained damage to the right-front tire and would not turn correctly. Sosa-Gonzalez lost control of the vehicle, ran off the road and struck a bush before continuing into the parking lot of the BP gas station.
The vehicle then jumped a curb, went airborne and struck Thomas in the gas station parking lot.
Court documents said Thomas saw the Honda CRV coming at her and tried to run away, but tripped over a curb, WTHR reported. She died at the scene.
Her father, Tommy Thomas, spoke to local TV stations and said his daughter had her share of struggles with substance abuse, but she didn’t deserve being killed by an out-of-control drunk driver.
“I’m so angry right now,” the victim’s father told FOX59/CBS4 after learning the driver was an illegal immigrant. “I just want justice. He should not have been here.”
Witnesses who called 911 reported that the driver jumped out of the vehicle and fled behind the BP convenience store. The CRV crashed head-on into a fence.
After fleeing from the scene, Sosa-Gonzalez allegedly called the person who owned the CRV and told him to report it stolen, according to court documents.
The owner called in a report that the car had been stolen but then confessed that Gonzalez was his friend who also works for him. He also gave police Sosa-Gonzalez’s phone number and showed officers where he lived, WTHR reported.
On Feb. 5, 2024, IMPD arrested Sosa-Gonzalez for operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person and operating a vehicle without ever receiving a license.
Sosa-Gonzalez pleaded guilty in the 2024 case and that on-street accident resulted in several speed bumps on a neighborhood street not far from the recent fatality, WTHR reported after his initial court appearance Oct. 2.
In that accident, he struck three cars parked on the street. Officers found Sosa-Gonzalez at the wheel with three open bottles of Corona beer in the front of the car.
Sosa Gonzalez blew .189% on the field breath test, more than twice the legal limit, WTHR reported.
In a plea agreement, Sosa-Gonzalez received a sentence of 356 days probation for drunk driving for the 2024 case. He violated probation and served 60 days on home detention, WTHR reported.
Last month’s drunk driving crash occurred less than a mile from where he hit the parked cars in 2024.
According to DHS records, Sosa-Gonzalez illegally entered the United States through Texas in July 2021 and was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol. He was then released into the country by the Biden administration and released again after his arrest in 2024.
“ICE has lodged a detainer asking officials in Indiana to cooperate with us and make sure this killer never gets back onto the streets again,” Mullin said.
Sosa-Gonzalez made an initial court appearance Friday, Oct. 2 and communicated with the judge through an interpreter, telling the judge he supports his family in Honduras.
The judge set bond at $15,000 cash, but the ICE detainer on Sosa-Gonzalez should keep him in custody, WTHR reported. His next court appearance is set for December.
