Driver who killed 5 on Miami expressway was drunk by nearly double legal limit, state says

The motorist who killed five young people in a wrong-way crash on the Palmetto Expressway was driving 80 miles an hour, and was drunk by nearly double the legal limit shortly after the wreck, authorities revealed in court on Tuesday.

Prosecutors now plan to file DUI manslaughter charges against Maiky Simeon, who appeared in a wheelchair in court on Tuesday and was ordered held without bond. A crowd of family and supporters of the victims erupted into cheers and applause when Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Diana Vizcaino announced her decision to keep him jailed before trial.

Vizcaino said Simeon had shown a “disregard for the safety of the community.”

Simeon has been in custody since early Aug. 20, when his 2018 silver Infiniti Q50 drove up the off-ramp of the Palmetto, past oncoming cars, switched lanes and then plowed directly into a Honda driving westbound. Five young people inside, ages 18 to 25, all died. Simeon had to be extricated from his car and was airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Those killed in the violent wreck: Giancarlo Arias, Daniella Marcano, Valeria Peña, Briana Pacalagua and Valeria Cáceres.

Simeon had originally been granted $50,000 bond and ordered to house arrest by a first-appearance judge on five charges of vehicular manslaughter. But prosecutors had asked that Simeon be kept behind bars, now that toxicology reports had concluded that he had indeed been drunk and the charges will be upgraded.

“He has every reason to try and flee,” Assistant State Attorney Shawn Abuhoff told the judge.

During Tuesday’s hearing, a Florida Highway Patrol corporal testified that a sample of blood, drawn at the hospital within the hour of the crash, showed a blood-alcohol content level of .152. The legal limit in Florida is .08.

An analysis of the car’s computer also showed he was driving at 80 miles per hour just before the crash, FHP Corp. Ruben Gutierrez Del Toro testified. He told the judge that video surveillance showed he passed several cars going the opposite direction — on the ramp, and on the expressway — before crashing into the Honda.

Simeon’s defense lawyer, Albert Levin, told the judge that his client had no history of arrests and was not a flight risk. He came to the United States from Haiti in 2010 after the country’s devastating earthquake and had strong family ties in Miami, Levin said.

“He is not allowed to drive. He does not want to drive,” Levin said. “Although his behavior was seemingly reckless, we ask that he is given the opportunity to remain in his residence during dependency of these proceedings, which could be a long while.”

After the hearing, family members hugged and cried in the hallway.

“It would have been hard to know that he was out free,” said Alvaro Peña, the father of Valeria Peña. “We just want justice.”

Said Robert Boyers, an attorney for the Pacalagua family: “The decision today was a good one. We all want to see the defendant held accountable.”

This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 4:29 PM.