Arrest made in crash that maimed South Dade High principal

Authorities have arrested a woman they say caused the April crash that injured a South Dade High principal so severely that his legs had to be amputated.

Marilyn Aguilera, 51, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with driving under in the influence in a crash that caused great bodily harm. Her blood-alcohol level was measured at .227 – almost three times the legal limit, the Herald has learned.

Javier Perez, the popular bow-tied wearing school principal, was critically injured at a West Kendall baseball field.

Witnesses told Miami-Dade police that Aguilera’s 2003 GMC SUV veered off Southwest 117th Avenue, hit 39-year-old Ileana Salort-Horta as it crashed through a fence, then 74-year-old Elias Espinoza on the field where Perez was coaching his 5-year-old son’s youth baseball game. Finally, the SUV struck the 43-year-old Perez, a husband and father of two.

A gofundme.com page has raised more than $132,000 for Perez’s medical expenses.

Aguilera’s traffic history was far from unblemished. Records show she was issued 14 tickets between 2007 and 2013, for everything from not having proper insurance to improperly backing up.

She has also twice been cited for knowingly driving with a suspended license; in one case, Aguilera beat the charge, in another case, she received a “withhold of adjudication,” meaning it did not count count as a conviction.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 12:27 PM with the headline "Arrest made in crash that maimed South Dade High principal."