MIAMI BEACH

3 lives intersect in tragedy on a South Beach street

 
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mlamagna@MiamiHerald.com

It appears that her life since then has been South Beach-focused.

In her Twitter bio, she had described herself as a “Party Princess Miami beach. Livin the dream.”

She has tweeted several times recently about drinking alcohol, including one post on “Margaritas & spinach dip to celebrate the end of midterms” on Jan. 17.

One of her plans: to go to the Ultra music fest in downtown Miami.

Now, she has been reduced to a sad-faced young woman in a teary, pouting jail mug shot. She is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Toxicology test results await. Her lawyer and her family couldn’t be reached.

THE WITNESS

When Jairo Fuentes witnessed a hit-and-run on his way to a Miami Beach gym early Monday morning, he followed his “natural instinct.”

He was driving north on Collins Avenue at about 6 a.m. when a man crossing the street was struck by a vehicle and, as Fuentes describes it, sent flying through the air from the impact.

“I was in shock,” when he saw what had happened, Fuentes says. “I was screaming when I saw him fall on the floor, and I guess I was very angry too that [the driver] didn’t stop.”

Fuentes, 47, dialed 911 and followed the driver until he caught up with her north of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel. The passenger window of the car was broken. She had tried to lose Fuentes several times, pretending to go left at one point and doing U-turns on Collins Avenue. He yelled to her many times that she should stop. Her erratic driving and swerving led him to believe she had been drinking.

When she eventually got out of the car, Fuentes says she was wearing a bright orange dress, and she refused to speak to him. Blood covered the side of the car. Police arrived minutes later.

He couldn’t get the vision of the dead man out of his mind.

“I started thinking, ‘This must have been somebody’s father, somebody’s husband,’” Fuentes said. “When I saw the guy, he looked like someone who was just trying to go to work.”

He was right on all counts.

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