BULLHEAD CITY — A teenager has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for a deadly collision during a police pursuit in Bullhead City. 15-year-old Jesus Camacho is also convicted of theft of means of transportation and misconduct involving a weapon.
Terms of the plea agreement entered Oct. 27 at the Mohave County Law and Justice Center in Kingman require imposition of a 15-20-year prison term at a Dec. 1 sentencing hearing.
Case co-defendants include Matthew Silvas, 18, Damarkez Hamer, 15, and Kyler Martinez, 17, and his brother Nicholas Martinez, 15. A lengthy report of the case investigation conducted by the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) said the 5 teenagers were members of the “KIA Boyz”, a group of young people who’ve been stealing property from vehicles and stealing vehicles in the Kingman area and beyond.
Camacho, also a documented member of the Norteno gang known to associates as “Biggie”, was driving a 2013 Hyundai Elantra stolen in Kingman when the defendants traveled from Kingman to Bullhead City during the late hours of Sept. 13 and early hours of Sept. 14. Defendant admissions included that the group looked for another vehicle to steal as they drove through Bullhead City and over to Laughlin.
Bullhead City Police sergeant T. Canfield was on patrol when he spotted the Hyundai speeding at about 60 miles-per-hour in a 35-mile zone while eastbound on Hancock Road at 4:10 a.m. Canfield turned onto Hancock initiating lights and sirens while attempting to stop the Hyundai which proceeded southbound on Highway 95.
Canfield terminated the 95-mile-per hour pursuit in a 45-mile zone in the interest of public safety when the driver later identified as Camacho crossed the median causing concern of collisions with oncoming traffic. Canfield summoned other officers to his location for a debriefing as the suspects drove away and fueled up at a Texaco before returning to Bullhead City.
A second pursuit was initiated at 4:31 as police followed the Hyundai speeding northbound on the Bullhead Parkway. The DPS report said the second pursuit reached 100 miles per hour, stretching 7.7 miles over 3 minutes before the Hyundai crossed into oncoming traffic, colliding head on with a Dodge Charger.
The driver of the Charger, Jeremy Miller, 32, Kingman, died of his injuries. The Medical Examiner concluded he died of blunt force trauma in the crash.
“It was determined that Miller sustained massive internal bleeding resulting from traumatic injuries to his chest, heart and aorta,” the DPS report said. It said that the speedometer of the Hyundai was stuck at 90 mph after the crash while it was estimated that Miller had braked and slowed to 39 miles per hour at the time of impact.
All 5 suspects were treated for non-life-threatening injuries at Western Arizona Regional Medical Center. 35 staples were used co close a head laceration suffered by Kyler Martinez.
“During their arrest, the juveniles exhibited a complete lack of remorse regarding the victim’s death and degraded law enforcement by referring to Bullhead City Police Department officers as ‘pigs,'” Primary Officer Trooper Joseph McInnis wrote in his Probable Cause statement.
Silvas turned 18 the same day as the crash.
“Silvas admitted he used his cellphone to photograph the police vehicles pursuing them and sent the photograph to his girlfriend while telling her they were involved in a police pursuit,” the DPS report said.
“It was all me,” Camacho told investigators. He indicated he did not want the others to be charged or prosecuted.
The report said Camacho is from Redlands, California but stays with his grandmother in Kingman. It said he is on parole for previous offenses and was named in an arrest warrant charging him with theft of means of transportation, resisting arrest, minor possessing a firearm, armed robbery and endangerment.
Law enforcement officers looking for Camacho asked Nicholas Martinez where he might be just 2 days before the chases took place. He indicated at that time that he did not know where Camacho was, but assumed he was on the run.
A loaded 9 mm Smith & Wesson firearm was found in a backpack in the Hyundai. Camacho told investigators the weapon belonged to him.
A couple co-defendants told police they encouraged Camacho to “Go, Go, Go” during the first pursuit, but the older Martinez brother said they asked him to stop right before the deadly crash.
“Kyler reiterated that all of the occupants were telling Camacho to stop because they could see what was happening and believed they were not going to escape from law enforcement,” the DPS report said.
The Martinez brothers, Hamer and Silvas await trial for murder, unlawful flight, theft of means of transportation and criminal damage.
