Three months after blood tests showed that Coral Springs Police Officer Peter William Muñoz was drunk when he fatally crashed his car into a 23-year-old pre-law student, the officer was arraigned Thursday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on charges of vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter.

Muñoz, 24, did not appear in court Thursday, but the victim’s family wept in the hallway after the five-minute proceeding.

Muñoz’s attorney, Alan S. Ross, entered a plea of not guilty, then walked outside the courtroom, where he was confronted by the victim’s family.

“He is a coward,’’ said the victim’s aunt, Damaris Gomez. “He couldn’t even have the respect to show up in court.’’

Jennifer Gutierrez, a paralegal who was studying to become a lawyer, crossed paths with Muñoz as she was driving home from a boyfriend’s home in Coral Gables about 4 a.m. July 16.

By law, Muñoz is not required to appear in court, but can submit a plea in writing. His lawyer had no comment on his behalf.

“Now is really not the appropriate time for him to say anything,’’ Ross said.

According to the arrest affidavit, about 4 that morning, Muñoz was traveling more than 60 miles per hour, southbound on Le Jeune Road, approaching residential Aledo Avenue in Coral Gables. The posted speed limit was 45.

According to a witness who was driving the speed limit, Muñoz came up from behind the witness and passed so fast “the witness felt that it was though his car was at a standstill,’’ the police report said.

As Muñoz sped toward the intersection, Gutierrez was attempting to make a left to travel north on Le Jeune. Muñoz slammed his Volkswagen CC into her BMW with such force that her family said she was impaled into her car door. Paramedics had to cut the car several times to remove her, they said.

One of the officers on the scene told the family that he immediately recognized that her injuries were life-threatening. She was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.

A friend of the family who lived nearby and heard the crash ran to the scene. He told them officers knew from the start that Muñoz had been drinking because he smelled of alcohol.

Muñoz, with Coral Springs police for five months, was also hospitalized. The police affidavit said blood-alcohol tests taken an hour after the crash registered .229, almost three times the legal limit of .08. The probe also showed that Muñoz took no evasive action to avoid the crash.

After his release from the hospital, he returned home. He was formally arrested on Sept. 29, prompting questions from the victim’s family and their attorney, Neil Gonzalez, about whether he was given special treatment because of his police connections. Muñoz’s father is a veteran Miami-Dade police officer.

“Do you really think if it was me, and I was involved in a catastrophic accident and they did toxicologies and I was drunk that I would have been released?” Gonzalez said. “He should have been taken straight to booking.’’

Gomez, who helped raise Gutierrez, said that when she arrived at the hospital after the crash, Coral Gables police officers offered little solace. As doctors were fighting to save her niece’s life, the police officers began grilling her about why Gutierrez was out so late the night of the crash. Gonzalez said blood-alcohol tests on Gutierrez showed she had not been drinking.