ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An Allentown man charged in a 2022 crash on MacArthur Road that killed a motorcyclist and a 16-year-old girl pleaded no contest Monday in connection with the crash.
Christian Joel Gonzalez Santiago, 29, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree misdemeanor.
All remaining charges against Gonzalez Santiago were withdrawn at the hearing before Judge Douglas G. Reichley. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated the same as a guilty plea for sentencing purposes.
The crash killed Mia G. Due, 16, a passenger in the 2017 Jeep Renegade, and Jose Estrada-Estrada, 42, driver of the second motorcycle.Lehigh County District Attorney's Office release
Involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Sentencing was set for April 12.
The crash on July 31, 2022, in Whitehall Township killed 16-year-old Mia G. Due, a passenger in a 2017 Jeep Renegade, and 42-year-old Jose Estrada-Estrada, who was operating a motorcycle.
Due was a student at Whitehall High School and Estrada-Estrada was from the Reading area. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities said Estrada-Estrada's motorcycle collided with the Renegade operated by a 17-year-old juvenile whom authorities did not identify.
Details of the crash
The district attorney’s office said Gonzalez Santiago was the driver of a second motorcycle that had been racing next to Estrada-Estrada just before the crash. Traffic video footage reportedly captured the motorcyclists racing side by side.
The motorcycles were going in excess of 80 mph in a 40 mph zone, authorities said.
As Estrada-Estrada's motorcycle crashed into the Jeep, Gonzalez Santiago’s motorcycle continued traveling south on MacArthur Road, the district attorney's office said.
He drove around the crash and into the surrounding area and crowd, officials said. The video surveillance also showed after the crash that Gonzalez Santiago returned to the scene and helped others push the Jeep upright onto its wheels.
He also was spotted another time returning to the scene and consoling a woman identified as the "significant other" of Estrada-Estrada.
The charges dropped in the agreement were recklessly endangering another person, reckless driving, driving at unsafe speeds, not being properly licensed, not having protective headgear for motorcycle riders and careless driving resulting in unintentional death.
