Warrant Issued for Suspect in Vehicular Homicide of 7 Year Old
Updated: Dec 16, 2021
ABQRAW staff Posted: December 16, 2021 02:12 PM
Updated: December 16, 2021 4:40 PM
Albuquerque -
Today, an arrest warrant was filed in court for a suspect involved in the vehicular homicide of 7-year-old Pronoy Bhattacharya. The suspect is Sergio Almanza and he has not been taken into custody at writing.
The arrest warrant says many anonymous tips came in about the side-by-side and who was driving it. Tips also came in about where the ATV was stashed immediately after the vehicular homicide. The complaint says Almanza was driving the vehicle from a Nob Hill bar called "El Sinaloense Mariscos and Grill." Surveillance video from the business verifies he inside the bar. Almanza then goes outside and gets into the side-by-side with a rear passenger and they drive west on Central towards the crash site.
Around 8:33PM, is when Bhattacharya and his dad were struck by Almanza. It was estimated by traffic investigators that the impact between the ATV and the father son was 50MPH.
Another anonymous tip came in on December 15th, 2021, a witness had heard a male talking about the crash and stated he knew Almanza. He also said Almanza was driving at the time of the crash. The witness was contacted by police and told them Almanza came to his house with the wrecked side-by-side because "something bad happened."
The witness said Almanza said "I just hit a kid." The witness stated that Almanza asked him to help clean and repair the side-by-side.
Almanza is charged with:
Homicide by Vehicle (Reckless Driving)
Knowingly Leaving the Scene of an Accident (Great Bodily Harm or Death)
Tampering with Evidence (Highest Crime a Capital, First or Second Degree Felony)
He is currently on the loose. We will update the story when he is caught and booked into jail.
