Driver arrested after deadly Miami Causeway crash. See what cops found inside his SUV
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A 30-year-old man has been arrested in connection to a crash that left a woman dead and several others injured after police say he was driving so fast on a major Miami causeway that his SUV went airborne for about 23 feet and crashed into another vehicle.
According to Miami police, Dionicio Enrique Castro was driving eastbound in the 1200 block of the 79th Street Causeway in a black Mazda SUV around 2:45 p.m. when he veered to the left, striking the median, before his SUV launched into the air and landed on the westbound lanes. The Miami Beach man’s SUV then skid roughly 20 feet and rammed into a gray Nissan sedan with three women inside ages 48, 39 and 19.
As a result, the causeway, which connects Miami to North Bay Village, was shut down for several hours.
The women were taken with head injuries to the Jackson Memorial Hospital Ryder Trauma Center, where the 39-year-old front passenger died hours later, police said. The Mazda’s driver, according to cops, was taken with a fractured and dislocated hip to the same hospital, where he remained in police custody as of Thursday afternoon. Authorities have not released the names of the victims.
Castro was traveling alone — but police say he was not empty-handed. Detectives note they found a loaded semi-automatic handgun, a baggie with what could be over 20 grams of marijuana and a small scale used to weigh narcotics inside of his vehicle. At the Ryder Trauma Center, medical staff discovered a small baggie with suspected cocaine in his wallet and another with Ecstasy in one of his pants’ pockets, according to police.
READ MORE: Four injured in multi-vehicle crash that shut down a major Miami causeway, police say
Castro, who had an active bench warrant for theft out of Miami-Dade County, is now facing several drug and firearm charges. Although he’s yet to be charged in connection to the traffic fatality, investigators said he caused the crash while driving in a “careless and reckless manner.”
Hours after the deadly wreck, he was arrested at the hospital.
