Father, teen son charged in 113 mph crash that killed Miramar mom and her unborn son
It was a few weeks before Christmas and Cristina Hernandez asked her fiancé what he would like as a gift. His answer was quick: A second child.
That gift was on the way until Hernandez, 30, was killed Dec. 19, when a teen driving at 113 miles per hour on a Miramar street rammed her Volkswagen Jetta from behind, leaving it a crumpled mess. Her unborn child died with her. Hernandez’s son Jacob, 7 and in the back seat, was critically injured.
“I found out the day of the accident that Cristina was five weeks pregnant,” said Anthony Estrada. “She knew. She was waiting to tell me.”
About two weeks ago, Christhian Bravo Gonzalez, who was 16 and didn’t have a license when the crash happened, was charged with killing Hernandez and the death of her unborn child. He’s also facing a pair of charges for driving under the influence, one for the death of Hernandez, the other for the death of the unborn child. Miramar police say he was high on marijuana at the time of the crash.
On Tuesday police also arrested Gonzalez’s father, Jose Miguel Bravo De La Torre, 38. They say he gave his son the keys to the Lexus fully aware he didn’t have a driver’s license. De La Torre was charged with permitting an unauthorized person to drive — a charge that doesn’t sit particularly well with Hernandez’s family.
“I want justice for this crime; a year or two [in jail] is not enough. If a parent gives a car to someone without a license, there should be consequences,” Hernandez’s younger sister Karina Hernandez said Thursday at Miramar Police headquarters, where family gathered as police announced the most recent arrest.
“She was the best daughter a mother could have,” said Cristina’s mother, Daymara Navarrete.
During his first court appearance this week, De La Torre’s attorney mentioned that his client is a Venezuelan seeking asylum. It wasn’t immediately clear if the charge would have any effect on his status.
Hernandez, an ICU nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital, had just picked up her son from elementary school and made a right turn onto Flamingo Road from Somerset Boulevard when Gonzalez failed to change lanes quickly enough, and rammed his dad’s Lexus into her car from behind.
The impact killed Hernandez instantly and caused such severe trauma to Jacob that practically every one of his internal organs and all his limbs except for his left arm were injured. He only awoke from a coma about two weeks ago. Estrada said he’s spent that time teaching his son how to eat through a feeding tube and walk again.
“I did tell him about his mom, which was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life,” said Estrada. “And he [Jacob] cried.”
Karina Hernandez said her sister was her role model and best friend who taught her how to be a mother to her child.
“I don’t know how to move forward, how to move on without her,” Karina said.
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 1:27 PM.
