Driving the wrong way on S. Dixie Highway at more than twice the posted speed limit, while drunk — and with a suspended license — a Jeep driver caused the violent crash that killed a West Park father of five, according to Hallandale Beach police.
After the crash, Adam Patrick Ilbert, 24, of North Miami, made his way out of the overturned Jeep Wrangler he was driving and ran away from the scene “without ever checking on the condition of the victim,” a Hallandale Beach arrest report said.
The crash happened late Sunday night, June 17, 2018, as David Diaz, 41, was heading home from work and driving west on E. Hallandale Beach Boulevard at its intersection with S. Dixie Highway, a one-way southbound road.
According to investigators, an analysis of the Jeep’s onboard computer would show that it was traveling 78 mph on S. Dixie Highway, where the posted speed limit is 35 mph, before crashing into Diaz’s car. Surveillance video from a nearby business showed the Jeep going north in the southbound lanes, the arrest report showed.
The force of the crash crumpled the Jetta, careening it into the front of the Silk Floral Gallery at 4 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd., and flipped the Jeep onto its roof before it came to rest next to the car. Diaz was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital but did not survive.
According to police, Ilbert was shirtless when he ran away from the scene, leaving behind the Jeep registered in his name, his wallet and identification, cellphone and the blue ATT World Cup soccer shirt that witnesses would later say he had been wearing while drinking and socializing at two area bars.
During the investigation, detectives used credit card receipts and interviews to determine that less than an hour before the crash, Ilbert had finished drinking at least 76 ounces of beer followed by at least two, 1-ounce shots of whiskey, the arrest report said.
A forensic toxicologist, using the drinking pattern and Ilbert’s physical makeup later concluded that — at the time of the crash — Ilbert’s blood alcohol content would have been between .14 and .18 – which is above Florida’s legal limit of .08.
Ilbert was arrested Friday and booked into jail on 18 charges including failing to remain at an accident involving a death, DUI causing death to a person, vehicular homicide and reckless driving.
During a court appearance Saturday, he was ordered to remain in jail without bond.