An elderly man could be spending his last years in a jail cell after killing a pedestrian and ramming into a string of cars on Tuesday evening in Gulfport.
Shortly before 5:42 p.m., Gulfport police rushed to the scene on Highway 49 after a pedestrian was reportedly struck by an erratic vehicle. Elio Gonzalo Fombellida was found in the suspected vehicle, prompting him to flee from officers. He was eventually stopped and apprehended without further incident.
Upon investigating the preceding sequence of events, a trail of erratic destruction was left in Fombellida’s path. The chaos apparently began when he collided with a UPS truck and promptly fled the scene. But his erratic driving resulted in him striking a pedestrian and two more vehicles before he was eventually halted.
Fombellida was found in possession of cocaine in his pants pocket, which he claimed a friend had left in his car and he was attempting to conceal from police. He was processed and taken to the Harrison County Adult Detention Center Tuesday, where he is being held on a $300,000 bond.
On Thursday, authorities reported that the pedestrian Fombellida hit with his car later succumbed to their injuries. Fombellida was initially charged with one count of leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury and one count of possession of a controlled substance, but his charges are expected to be upgraded after the pedestrian’s death.
