Driver accused in Miami hit-and-run that killed woman smelled of booze, cops say
The driver of a car that struck and killed a woman in Miami last week smelled like booze and had slurred speech, according to law enforcement officials.
Oscar Andres Portillo Lopez, 24, was also driving his 2009 Honda Accord on a temporary permit that expired in July when Miami Police say the crash occurred around 11 p.m. Thursday.
Poritillo Lopez rear-ended a 2020 Chevy Colorado pickup truck at the intersection of Northwest 11th Street and 12th Avenue, cops said. It didn’t end there.
He reversed his car and hit the pickup again before speeding off through a red light intersection at Northwest 20th Street and 12th Avenue, police said, adding that he hit the side of a 2014 Jeep Compass SUV driven by 35-year-old Cinthia Liliana Sierra Linares.
The impact forced Sierra Linares’ car into a traffic pole. The driver of the Colorado, who detailed to police how Portillo Lopez was smiling “in a sarcastic manner” when he hit her pickup twice, ran to help Sierra Linares.
But she was trapped inside her SUV, police said. After hitting the Jeep, Portillo Lopez’s car jumped the sidewalk, hit a traffic sign and then crashed into a wall, police said in their arrest report.
The woman in the Colorado told cops Portillo Lopez got out of his car and yelled, “What’s the problem,” in Spanish, per the report.
Responding officers tried unsuccessfully to rescue Sierra Linares from her car. Miami Fire Rescue paramedics declared her dead when they arrived, the report states.
The driver of the Colorado suffered a fractured tooth from hitting her steering wheel from the impact of the first collission, police say. She also had a bruised thigh, and her passenger had a hand injury, according to the report.
Paramedics took Portillo Lopez to Jackson Memorial Hospital to be treated for a fractured wrist and forearm, cops said. Police also obtained a warrant to test his blood for alcohol, the report states. Results were still pending as of Monday, Miami police spokeswoman Officer Kiara Delva said.
After he was released, officers booked him into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on charges of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident that caused serious bodily injuries. Delva said more charges could be added if the blood test comes back positive for alcohol.
Bond had yet to be set as of Monday night, and Portillo Lopez, who is from Honduras but has two Miami addresses listed on his arrest form, is also being detained on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold, jail records reveal.
Friends of Sierra Linares, who was born and went to school in Colombia, set up a GoFundMe page to raise money “to support her family with funeral expenses and to give her the farewell she deserves.”
