Five days after a collision that left one woman dead and four other people in intensive care, the man charged with causing the crash was out of the hospital and before a judge in Broward County.
Raphael Candido Vilela, 20, of West Boca, was ordered jailed without bond on nearly two dozen charges including vehicular homicide, DUI and reckless driving involving the death of Thais Haug, 19, of Deerfield Beach, records showed.
He appeared before Judge Betsy Benson Friday, with his right arm in a cast and a sling. Despite help from a Portuguese translator, Vilela indicated he did not completely understand the court proceedings and charges he was facing.
“He doesn’t realize what’s going on or what happened,” said Assistant Broward Public Defender Hector Romero. “He’s going through some medical issues and I believe there’s also some potential memory lapses.”
The collision between a BMW 530i sedan and a Tesla Model 3 happened about 4 a.m. Sunday in the westbound lanes of West Hillsboro Boulevard, between North Powerline Road and Country Club Boulevard, Broward Sheriff’s investigators said.
Vilela was driving the BMW as Sebastian Espinoza, 18, of Deerfield Beach, was driving east toward Country Club Boulevard in the Tesla.
Espinoza was in the designated left turn lane waiting to travel north onto Country Club Boulevard. When the Tesla entered the intersection, the BMW struck the passenger side where Haug was sitting, investigators said.
The impact tore away the passenger side doors, rear seats and part of the Tesla’s trunk. The BMW lost its front wheels and caught fire, the crash report stated.
Investigators said impaired driving and high speed were factors in the collision.
After the crash, Haug was pronounced dead at Broward Health North medical center.
Vilela and his three passengers — Alice Silva, 17, of Coconut Creek; Giovannia Silva, 16 and Joao Coneglian, 17, both of Boca Raton — were taken to the same hospital with serious injuries, the sheriff’s office said.
wkroustan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4303 or Twitter @WayneRoustan
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