Woman pleads guilty to DUI crash that killed her best friend. She got probation
A woman who drove drunk and crashed into a lake — killing her best friend — will not have to serve time behind bars in a Florida prison after reaching a deal with prosecutors.
Julia Vega, 73, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide in the Dec. 31, 2024, crash that killed Elsa Pintor, 69. Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Alberto Milian sentenced Vega to 10 years of probation and 200 hours of community service.
After taking the deal, Vega also will no longer be able to have a driver’s license. She was facing up to 15 years in prison.
Ed Griffith, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, told the Miami Herald on Tuesday afternoon that the close relationship between Vega and the victim was a “major factor” in the plea agreement.
Pintor’s son — who is Vega’s son-in-law and has children with Vega’s daughter — approved of the deal, Griffith said.
“The painful loss of one grandmother and the potential loss of the other, that’s really what this plea was about,” Griffith said. “The plea is entirely in line with what the surviving victim wanted on this.”
A fatal New Year’s Eve crash
At around 11 p.m. on New Year’s Eve 2024, Vega was behind the wheel when she was driving in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 9900 block of West Okeechobee Road in Hialeah Gardens, according to her arrest report.
Vega then “suddenly accelerated” and hit a yellow pole and chain-link fence, the report says. She continued driving, and the vehicle became submerged in the lake.
Vega escaped the sinking vehicle, but Pintor wasn’t able to, the report says. Pintor died as a result of the crash.
Police noted that Vega was slurring her words and appeared to be drunk. She told them she and Pintor “only had wine.”
Officers completed a blood draw, which showed that Vega’s blood alcohol level was 0.148, almost double the legal limit.
Vega was arrested but was released from jail after posting a $50,000 bond. A judge, court records show, placed her on house arrest and ordered her not to drive.
