New felony charge for teen accused in fatal car-house crash in Raleigh

A second felony charge was filed Wednesday against a 19-year-old man who is accused of crashing a car into an East Lenoir Street house and killing a man last month.

Etgar Edvardo Bautista-Montoya, who has been in jail since his arrest shortly after the Nov. 24 crash, was charged with felony fleeing in a motor vehicle to elude arrest.

He was charged originally with felony death by vehicle and three traffic offenses: driving while impaired, driving after consuming alcohol while being under 21 years old, and driving with a revoked license.

Anthony Joseph Gaines, 42, was killed when Bautista-Montoya’s 2001 Jaguar went through a T intersection where South State Street ends at East Lenior Street. Gaines was in the house across from South State Street that the car hit.

Two children who were also inside the house were taken to WakeMed with minor injuries and later released.

With the new charge Wednesday, Bautista-Montoya’s bail rose to $285,000.

Wednesday’s charge by First Class Officer M.S. Cornelius accused Bautista-Montoya of driving more than 15 mph over the speed limit on South State Street.

Speeding by 15 mph or more and causing a death are among several conditions that can make fleeing police a felony. Any two on the list can trigger the more serious charge.

A police report about the crash said that a short time earlier, police had been trying to stop the Jaguar after clocking it at 66 mph on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where the speed limit is 35 mph.

The Jaguar turned north on South State Street, and the crash happened a few moments later, police said.

Bautista-Montoya is due in court Dec. 13 for a hearing on felony charges from a shooting incident last year and Dec. 18 for a hearing on the charges from the day of the crash.

He also has court dates on Jan. 29 on felony breaking and entering and misdemeanor assault charges from October, and next July in a misdemeanor marijuana-possession case from May.

This story was originally published December 7, 2017 at 11:39 AM with the headline "New felony charge for teen accused in fatal car-house crash in Raleigh."