Teen accused of crashing into food truck customers appears in court

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Police say 18-year-old Abraham Alvarez was racing with another car when he lost control and crashed into several people near a taco truck late last Saturday.

Alvarez was arrested at the scene.

On Friday, prosecutors asked a judge to keep him locked up until trial. One of the victims spoke to the judge, too.

“We were struck by Mr. Alvarez’s vehicle,” said Christine Gerhardt during the detention hearing.

Gerhardt said she and her husband were on a date at the taco truck when they were hit. Her husband is still in the intensive care unit with major injuries.

“Ten broken ribs, broken jaw, broken pelvis,” Gerhardt said. “He’s had to say goodbye to his kids prior to these procedures.”

In a pretrial detention motion, prosecutors put it simply, saying Alvarez “critically injured three people with his decision to race on public streets. It is clear that the defendant values a good time more than he does the safety of others.”

Alvarez is charged with multiple counts of great bodily harm by vehicle.

One of the responding officers testified before the judge Friday, too.

“I suspected he could be impaired, either by alcohol or drugs,” said Linda Smith, an APD officer.

She said that blood test results are still pending. That’s part of the reason Alvarez’s defense attorney argued for his release.

“We can speculate what a blood draw, what they may hope it shows or anticipate it to show, but there’s no evidence right now of a breath card of a blood draw,” said Jordan Haddad, defense attorney.

Despite that, Judge Lucy Solimon decided Alvarez will stay in jail pending trial.