A 20-year-old man accused of causing a fatal crash during a drunken, high-speed flight from Glendale police has been booked into Maricopa County Jail on a $3.01 million bond, nearly five months after investigators say he fled the country to dodge charges. Ali Thoban Alebadi was arrested back in Glendale on August 19, capping a manhunt that spanned two continents following a March 22 rampage that left one woman dead and another in a coma.
According to Fox 10 Phoenix, a judge ordered Alebadi held on the multimillion-dollar bond following his booking. Court documents cited by AZ Family say Alebadi left the country to avoid arrest after the crash, and he now faces murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges. He is expected to appear in Glendale court on August 27.
A Chase That Began Near Westgate
Police say the chaos started around 7:30 a.m. on March 22, when an officer tried to pull Alebadi over near 57th Avenue after seeing him drive out of Loop 101 onto Glendale Avenue, according to the same AZ Family report. Alebadi allegedly nearly lost control of his white 2015 Nissan Altima exiting the freeway near the Westgate Entertainment District, then sped away instead of stopping, cutting off traffic, making wide turns, running at least eight red lights and driving into oncoming traffic, per court documents referenced in that reporting.
Traffic camera footage reviewed by investigators showed Alebadi reaching speeds nearly three times the posted limit as he blew through eight separate intersections on a suspended license, the station's report notes. Alebadi did not have a valid driver's license at the time, and a blood test later showed his blood alcohol concentration at 0.141 after the crashes — well above the legal threshold, and a violation carrying extra weight given Arizona's zero-tolerance law for drivers under 21 under A.R.S. § 4-244, as outlined by the Tobin Law Office.
Two Crashes, Two Sets Of Victims
The pursuit produced two separate collisions within moments of each other. As the responding officer chased Alebadi with lights and sirens activated, the patrol vehicle entered the intersection at 56th Avenue on a red light and collided with a 2023 Toyota Tacoma, according to Fox 10 Phoenix. The pickup driver suffered serious, life-altering injuries, and while initial scene reports listed non-life-threatening injuries, court documents later revealed the severity of the harm — including broken ribs. The officer was hospitalized but was not seriously injured.
Alebadi kept driving eastbound after that collision and ran a red light at 51st Avenue, broadsiding a blue 2018 Nissan Sentra and sending both vehicles crashing into a commercial building, per the same account. The Sentra's female passenger was killed in the crash, and the driver suffered serious injuries and remains in a coma, according to AZ Family. Alebadi was treated for a broken leg before being released from the hospital.
Fleeing To Mexico, Then Iraq
Court records indicate Alebadi used international family connections to flee first to Mexico and then to Iraq after his hospital treatment, per Fox 10 Phoenix. He reportedly has connections to both countries, according to court documents cited by AZ Family. It remains an open question how Alebadi managed to re-enter the United States after fleeing, and whether federal border or flight-to-avoid-prosecution warrants were involved in bringing him back into law enforcement's reach; that detail has not been disclosed. He was ultimately found and arrested back in Glendale on August 19, nearly five months after the crash.
Public court records show this was not Alebadi's first brush with the law. He had multiple prior arrests in Maricopa County during 2024, including charges for assault, endangerment, threats, and failure to comply with court orders, when he was 18 years old, according to Maricopa County public records.
Why Prosecutors Can Pursue A Murder Charge
Arizona's felony murder statute allows prosecutors to charge first-degree murder when a fatal collision occurs while a driver is actively fleeing or eluding police, without needing to prove premeditation, according to the Belen Law Firm. Under Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-1105, the act of fleeing itself becomes the predicate felony that elevates the charge, which is why Alebadi faces murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon counts stemming from the crash.
The case adds to a string of severe traffic incidents that have drawn scrutiny to Glendale streets this year, including a DUI crash that sparked a house fire earlier this month. Glendale police conducted 40,765 traffic stops and made 693 DUI arrests across the city's 24 patrol beats in 2025, and state crash reports have identified Glendale as one of Maricopa County's top five cities for alcohol-related crashes, per Hoodline's earlier reporting. Maricopa County as a whole accounted for 3,544 of Arizona's 5,520 alcohol-related collisions in 2024, and the county recorded 594 traffic fatalities that year — nearly half of all motor vehicle deaths statewide, according to Arizona Department of Transportation data, even as countywide fatalities fell 12.8% from 2023.
