Suspect arrested in a Miami hit-and-run that killed a wife and hospitalized two people
DNA on the airbag of a stolen car led to the arrest of a suspect in a Midtown hit-and-run crash that killed a young wife in May, according to an arrest report.
The report says Miami resident Dalton McKenzie, 21, admitted to police that he drove the Ford Mustang in question, but there’s an unresolved timing issue.
McKenzie told police he drove the car on May 2 from Overtown to the Brickell area and back. McKenzie said he received a traffic citation that he left in the car, a claim backed up by online traffic records.
But when McKenzie was asked how his DNA got on the airbag that exploded after the May 5 crash that killed 23-year-old Ciarah Ramirez and injured her husband and a friend, he invoked his right to remain silent.
McKenzie’s in Miami-Dade jail charged with one count of leaving the scene of a crash with a death, two counts of leaving the scene of a crash with bodily injury, three counts of driving without a license and being in a crash with death or bodily injury and one count of vehicular homicide, failure to stop. His bond is $100,000.
Those are the only charges facing McKenzie. In May, Miami Deputy Police Chief Ron Papier told the Miami Herald there were two men in the Mustang, police had been tailing them at some point and the Mustang’s occupants were suspected of being involved in a “violent crime” earlier that evening.
Miami police policy says a high-speed pursuit can only happen if the people in the car are suspected of committing a violent crime and the public won’t be endangered. Five officers and their unit’s sergeant have been reassigned from street patrol to desk duty while internal affairs and traffic homicide investigates whether they followed pursuit policy with the Mustang.
Miami police said Tuesday those officers remain reassigned as the internal affairs investigation continues.
The crash and the investigation
Surveillance video shown on WSVN doesn’t show the black 2020 Mustang under pursuit as it zooms into the Miami Avenue and 36th Street intersection from the south around 9:30 p.m. on May 5. Investigators say the Mustang’s data recorder measured 64 mph.
At the intersection, the Mustang driver ran a red light and T-boned a blue, westbound Subaru on the driver’s side. This sent the Subaru into Addison House furniture store, which sits on the northwest corner of the intersection. Ramirez was hurled from the car and down 36th Street. She landed west of the intersection. She was declared dead on the scene.
Her husband, Robert Ramirez, suffered a brain bleed and facial fractures. The Subaru’s driver suffered a lung contusion. Both were taken in critical condition to Jackson Memorial Hospital, and released within the week.
The Mustang bounced off two cars waiting at the light to continue southbound. When the Mustang stopped, the arrest report said, McKenzie ran off toward the west.
The next day, the report says, the Mustang’s owner reported that it had been stolen on May 4 from his Little Haiti home. Investigators submitted the airbags for DNA testing on May 14. Those results came back last week as a match for McKenzie.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 7:44 PM.
