At least one driver was arrested after a pair of early morning crashes on two major Miami-Dade roadways killed a total of six people and sent over a half dozen others to the hospital Friday.
The first crash occurred along Interstate 95 northbound at Northwest 62nd Street just before 1 a.m. when a group of motorcyclists stopped to help another person on a motorcycle who had crashed, authorities said. Minutes later, a white van crashed into the group, causing the mass casualty scene.
"According to several witnesses on the scene, some vehicles stopped to assist the initial accident with one of the motorcycles that went down and moments later that vehicle collided with that vehicle and had caused a chain reaction of hitting multiple people that were on the street," Miami Fire Rescue Capt. Ignatius Carroll said.
Two people were killed at the scene and 11 people were injured with seven transported to the hospital – six of them to Ryder Trauma Center, where two more later died.
Driver Arrested After 4 Killed in I-95 Crash
A driver, Lionel Orrego, was arrested on DUI manslaughter charges after a crash that killed four people on I-95 in Miami-Dade.(Published Friday, Aug. 31, 2018)
The victims were later identified 21-year-old Alina Ghani, 38-year-old Eugene Benjamin, 25-year-old John Brady Garzon and 27-year-old Meryl Diaz.
Florida Highway Patrol officials said the driver of the van, Lionel Orrego, was arrested and is facing charges including four counts of DUI manslaughter, two counts of DUI with serious bodily injury and three counts of DUI with property damage.
After several hours of closures, the roadway reopened just before 8 a.m.
Six People Killed in Deadly Crashes in Miami Dade
More than a dozen people were involved in the crashes that caused problems on both I-95 and the Turnpike early Friday morning.(Published Friday, Aug. 31, 2018)
The second incident occurred just before 4 a.m. in the northbound lanes of the Florida's Turnpike just before the interchange with Interstate 75.
FHP officials said the single-car crash involved an SUV that hit a guardrail and rolled over. A total of five people were involved in that crash with two women pronounced dead at the scene after being ejected.
The women were identified as 35-year-old Yamilca F. Cisnero de Vazquez and 60-year-old Maria Ines Suss, both of Homestead.
Three people were hospitalized, including a 3-year-old boy who was airlifted after being ejected as well, according to the FHP.
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
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Early morning crashes leave six dead, shut down Miami-Dade highways for hours
By Howard Cohen And Martin Vassolo
hcohen@miamiherald.com
mvassolo@miamiherald.com
August 31, 2018
Four people are dead and two seriously injured after the driver of a van plowed into the scene of an accident on I-95 Friday, striking two stopped vehicles and several people standing on the shoulder of the highway, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
They were among six people who were killed on Miami highways Friday morning.
The first crash occurred around 1 a.m. on the right shoulder of the northbound lanes near Northwest 62nd Street after a motorcyclist got into a minor accident and a passing motorist stopped their car on the side of the road to help, FHP said. The driver of a GMC Savana van heading north toward the scene of the crash moved into the right lane and clipped the car’s bumper before striking several people standing on the shoulder.
The van’s driver, Lionel Orrego, then collided with the back of a second stopped car that had been involved in the motorcycle crash, pushing that car into the motorcycle, FHP said.
Orrego, 42, was arrested on four counts of DUI manslaughter, two counts of DUI with serious bodily injury, three counts of DUI with property damage and one count of resisting arrest with violence, according to FHP Lt. Alex Camacho.Orrego’s bond was set at $125,000. He was booked into Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center just before 7:30 a.m.
Those who died in the crash were later identified by FHP: Alina Ghani, 21; Randy Benjamin, 38; Jhon Brady Garzon, 25; Meryl Diaz, 27.
I-95 northbound lanes remained shut down for hours, later re-opening after 8:15 a.m.
Elsewhere, Florida’s Turnpike extension was shut down northbound between Okeechobee Road and I-75 after a fatal accident that occurred around 3:45 a.m.
That rollover crash on State Road 821 at Mile Marker 37 killed two people on the Turnpike extension around Hialeah. FHP identified the victims as Yamilca F. Cisnero de Vazquez, 35, and Maria Ines Suss, 60., who both lived in Homestead.
Vazquez and Suss were ejected from a 2002 Mercury Mountaineer that lost control and collided with the right guardrail on the turnpike. Kevin Jose Vazquez, age not listed, was also ejected and was in serious condition at Kendall Regional Hospital. The driver, Noelia Corneil Camilo, 33, and passenger Jose Ramon Vazquez Plaza, 59, were also taken to Kendall Regional in serious condition, according to the accident report.
Several lanes were closed and re-opened at 10:30 a.m.
The FHP is investigating.
Meantime, officers cleared a blockage on State Road 826 westbound just before Northwest 67th Avenue and Ludlam Road after a disabled vehicle blocked the left lane blocked.