{"id":67118,"date":"2025-11-27T08:38:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T08:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/67118\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T08:38:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T08:38:17","slug":"sapd-arrests-teen-accused-of-crashing-stolen-camaro-killing-5-people-on-i-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/67118\/","title":{"rendered":"SAPD arrests teen accused of crashing stolen Camaro, killing 5 people on I-35"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 San Antonio police have arrested the driver of a stolen Chevrolet Camaro who is accused of causing a crash on Interstate 35 on the Southwest Side and killing five people in July.<\/p>\n

Ethan Gonzales, 19, was charged with five counts of manslaughter and five counts of hit and run resulting in death, SAPD public information officer Emily Garvin said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Garvin said \u201cdozens\u201d of felony charges are pending.<\/p>\n

On July 17, the stolen Camaro attempted to weave between a small bus hauling a trailer and an 18-wheeler on southbound I-35 near Cassin Road, according to a crash report obtained by KSAT.<\/p>\n

>> Stolen Camaro attempted to weave between truck and bus in deadly I-35 crash, investigator says<\/a><\/p>\n

Garvin said Gonzales was driving the Camaro at speeds up to 105 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

The Camaro collided with the bus, which then struck a guardrail and was hit by an 18-wheeler, an SAPD preliminary report stated. The collision caused the bus to roll on its passenger side, ejecting multiple people.<\/p>\n

Two people died at the scene, and three people were taken to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Fifteen people were injured, Garvin said.<\/p>\n

Four people were seen fleeing the Camaro after the crash, Garvin said. <\/p>\n

Garvin said DNA and surveillance video connected Gonzales to the Camaro. Cell phone records also pinged Gonzales at the crash.<\/p>\n

He was arrested on Wednesday at his home in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

Garvin said the three other suspects were arrested on charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle and burglary of a vehicle.<\/p>\n

Police identified them as Matthew Andres Espinoza, Eric Rene Perez and John Michael Sanchez.<\/p>\n

Matthew Andres Espinoza, Eric Rene Perez and John Michael Sanchez (left to right). (KSAT)<\/p>\n

Perez and Espinoza were arrested in August in connection with the theft of the Camaro. They were charged with burglary of vehicles, a misdemeanor criminal offense, according to the arrest warrants.<\/p>\n

>> 2 men charged with theft of stolen Camaro linked to deadly I-35 crash, records show<\/a><\/p>\n

Perez also faced an additional charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a state-jail felony, while Espinoza is also charged with failure to identify himself, records show.<\/p>\n

Surveillance video from July 15 captured Perez and Espinoza driving the stolen Camaro and breaking into another vehicle at a restaurant on the Southwest Side, the affidavit states.<\/p>\n

Court documents say Perez was seen using \u201can instrument to pry and break the driver side door handle\u201d of a Ford truck. He was then seen leaving the truck with a handbag and driving off in the stolen Camaro.<\/p>\n

The owner of the truck reported that a Gucci bag with an unknown amount of money, bank cards, and personal information was stolen from his vehicle, records show.<\/p>\n

Two days later, the Camaro was involved in the deadly crash, according to San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.<\/p>\n

After the crash, detectives found a black wallet with multiple bank cards and personal information with the truck owner\u2019s name inside the Camaro.<\/p>\n

KSAT has reached out to SAPD for more information about Sanchez.<\/p>\n

Read also:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 San Antonio police have arrested the driver of a stolen Chevrolet Camaro who is accused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[268,2417,82,84,83,632,15378],"class_list":["post-67118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-crash","tag-interstate-35","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-sapd","tag-southwest-side"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}