A driver that was hospitalized Tuesday after he drove his Jeep around lowered gates onto the path of an incoming Brightline train in Hollywood has died, police confirmed Wednesday morning.
Miami Herald
A Jeep Wrangler driver who was seriously injured after he drove around lowered safety gates at a railroad crossing and was struck by a Brightline train in Hollywood has died, police confirmed Wednesday.
Police identified the driver Wednesday afternoon as 52-year-old Maher Soua.
The crash happened in the area of Garfield Street and North Dixie Highway around 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to Hollywood police. Soua was taken in critical condition to Memorial Regional Hospital, where he died, police said.
Based on the preliminary investigation, it appears he drove around the lowered gates, which signify that a train is coming, and was attempting to cross the tracks when a southbound Brightline train hit him, police said.
The crash comes a day after a father of four was killed in Pompano Beach after Brightline officials say he swerved around lowered gates and drove into the path of a train. There have been at least 11 collisions involving a Brightline train this year.
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription
