Two drivers who may have been racing tried to run away through the middle of the Everglades after causing a crash early Wednesday that flipped a Chevrolet Blazer carrying seven people, including a 9-year-old girl who was killed, officials said.
The crash happened about 3:30 a.m. on Interstate 75 near Mile Marker 43 and kept a more than 20 mile westbound stretch of the highway known as Alligator Alley closed for about six hours.
Just before the crash, two cars — an Infiniti and a Nissan — were heading west and believed to be going fast, said Lt. Alvaro Feola, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman.
“We don’t know if it’s drag racing or not. Obviously we’re looking to see if speed was a factor,” Feola said.
The Blazer, traveling from the Fort Lauderdale area to Bradenton on Florida’s Gulf Coast, was ahead of the Infiniti when the car’s front right side clipped the left side of the SUV’s rear end, an FHP crash report said.
“That collision caused the Blazer to overturn several times, going into the southbound lanes,” Feola said.
In the same moment, the Infiniti and Nissan collided. The teen drivers of those two cars made a run for it. Whether they stayed on the paved highway or darted into the murky Everglades wilderness on either side of the highway wasn’t immediately known. But they weren’t on the lam for long.
“Both drivers that caused the crash … were later apprehended by BSO K9 units,” according to Feola.
After getting caught, both drivers were taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale with serious injuries. Charges are pending the outcome of a traffic homicide investigation, according to the crash report.
Jeraisy Perez, 17, of North Miami, drove the Nissan, the report said.
Detectives are investigating whether alcohol was a factor in 18-year-old Infiniti driver Carlos Jeovany Gutierrez’s involvement in the fatal crash, FHP said.
“Investigators will analyze all the evidence collected to determine the sequence of events on this crash between all three vehicles,” the report said.
Nine-year-old Eymi Aguilera-Torres, of Fort Lauderdale, was flown to the hospital where she died, according to FHP.
The driver of the Blazer, Abel Mendoza, 42, of Bradenton, had minor injuries. Only one of his six passengers, Jensy Torres-Peraza, 25, of Fort Lauderdale, escaped without injury, FHP’s report said.
A 12-year-old in the Blazer, Esmeralda Madriles, of Bradenton, was seriously hurt. Also in the Blazer suffering minor injuries were Beatriz Gerardo, 37, of Mishawka, Ind. and Areli Mendoza-Gonzalez, 7, and Arminda Gonzalez-Barrios, 41, both of Bradenton.
Shortly before 9:30 a.m., the westbound lanes of I-75 were reopened to traffic.
During the investigation and cleanup, drivers on I-75 heading toward Florida’s west coast were diverted at U.S. 27.