Man arrested 5 years after fatal hit-and-run crash in Miami Gardens, deputies say
Renee Symonette’s death was abrupt and violent. An evening drive down a Miami neighborhood five years ago was cut short when a 19-year-old rammed into her at breakneck speed, killing her. Now, Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies say they’ve tracked down and arrested the man responsible — and this wasn’t his first homicide.
On the night of Oct. 7, 2020, Symonette was driving a white 2014 Mercedes-Benz C250 along Northwest 37th Avenue in Miami Gardens, an arrest warrant read. Unbeknownst to her, Malcolm Antonio Lumpkin, now 24, was racing toward Symonette in the opposite direction at an “extremely high rate of speed,” changing lanes erratically.
Symonette began to “safely” make a left turn after waiting for traffic to clear at the intersection of Northwest 179th Street, authorities said. But as she drove into opposite lanes of traffic, Lumpkin slammed into her car, head-on, at 89 mph in his black 2016 Nissan Maxima.
The Maxima spun and crashed into a chain link fence, as the Mercedes-Benz rotated and stopped in the street.
Lumpkin and his passenger jumped out of the car as it became engulfed in flames, the warrant read. Symonette was pronounced dead by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, while her front seat passenger was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center with a non-life-threatening hip injury.
The ensuing investigation revealed that while Lumpkin did have a valid learner’s license, there was no licensed driver over 21 in the passenger seat, which is required by law. Detectives also found Lumpkin had run a red light just before the fatal crash four blocks away and nearly struck two cars.
It’s not clear what investigative steps were taken over the next five years, but Lumpkin still found himself in handcuffs Monday in an unrelated brush with law enforcement.
An MDSO deputy working with the Robbery Intervention Detail spotted Lumpkin driving a 2019 black Nissan Maxima with a tag cover, which is against Florida law.
After trying to pull over Lumpkin, he sped off from the deputy but was caught after crashing the car. When police conducted a records check on him, it unearthed an active arrest warrant for the fatal 2020 crash, signed months earlier.
He was charged with vehicular homicide for the hit-and-run and a litany of other charges, including reckless driving, fleeing and eluding a police officer and leaving the scene of an accident.
And Monday’s arrest wasn’t the first time Lumpkin has run into trouble with the law in recent years. At 14 years old, he was charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Jakyri Fleurimar. It’s unclear how that juvenile case ended.
As of Tuesday, he remained in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
This story was originally published June 26, 2025 at 11:57 AM.
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