Man with DUI history pleads guilty to wrong-way I-95 crash. Victim’s car plunged off flyover.
An intoxicated man who was driving his car the wrong way on I-95 and knocked another car off the Golden Glades flyover pleaded guilty Wednesday to DUI manslaughter and related charges. The crash killed one man and severely injured another.
Irwin Rockwell, 38, of Ochopee in Collier County, reached a plea deal with Miami-Dade prosecutors that will send him to state prison for 17 years followed by 10 years of probation.
Before dawn on Aug. 24, 2021, Rockwell was driving a silver Chevrolet Equinox SUV headed south in the northbound I-95 express lanes near the Golden Glades interchange. His car struck a Subaru with two Miami-Dade County men inside. The Subaru plummeted off the flyover, a fall of about 85 feet, landed on its roof and burst into flames.
Wellington Rivera, 41, of North Miami, who was driving the Subaru, died. His passenger, Ed Gonzalez, suffered severe injuries.
The family’s “loss is unimaginable,” Assistant State Attorney Laura Adams told Circuit Judge Cristina Miranda at Wednesday’s court hearing. Adams added it was a “miracle” Gonzalez survived the crash and that he has since undergone several surgeries.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Rivera’s mother questioned why Rockwell, who had a history of DUI convictions, was even allowed to drive. “He killed my first born, my son,” the mother told the judge. “And as he killed him, I am also dead.”
Rockwell had been convicted of three prior DUI offenses and was driving with a revoked driver’s license at the time of last year’s crash, Adams said. He was treated at a local hospital and later arrested, she said. His blood alcohol level was 0.12, which was taken a few hours after the accident, she said. The legal limit is 0.08 in Florida.
Adams said Rockwell agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter and other charges to spare the victims’ families the grief of reliving the horrible tragedy at trial. Rockwell was represented by defense attorneys Robert Reiff and David Kubiliun.
On the morning of the crash, a Road Ranger saw the Subaru on fire and managed to pull the passenger, Gonzalez, out of the vehicle to safety, according to published news accounts. But the ranger, Larry Cherry, said he could not get to the driver, Rivera, before the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames.
A Florida Highway Patrol trooper heard Rockwell say that he “stayed out a little too late the night before,” according to a police report. In addition, the report states, when searching Rockwell’s car, officers “found a laptop on the driver seat with a credit card upside down partially under it, and an empty Modelo glass beer bottle on the driver seat.” Officers also noted the “distinct odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 3:31 PM.
