FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Police identified the victims of a fatal crash in Fort Lauderdale early Thursday morning.
Alyza Russell, 22, lost control of her Porsche Panamera while trying to make a left turn at 5th Avenue and West Broward Boulevard about 2:14 a.m., police said. She hit and killed 30-year-old Mackendy Jules and 35-year-old Samuel "Slim" Martindale.
One man who witnessed the crash described it as "something out of a movie."
"I thought it was a clump of dirt under the car, but it was who we call Slim," said Randy Trammell. "She went over here and stopped and then she started peeling out, it looked like. She was smoking her tires but she couldn't go anywhere because one guy was locked in the wheel."
Police drew blood from Russell. Charges against her are pending the outcome of a toxicology report.
"Investigators believe that she was under the influence of an unknown substance, and so the warrant was obtained from an on-duty judge and that's when the blood draw was effected," said Fort Lauderdale Police Det. DeAnna Greenlaw.
"They let this lady go. I don't understand that. If that would've been me, I would've been inside Broward County Jail right now waiting on my blood test to come back here. I wouldn't have been here on the streets," said Sheldon Daniels, Martindale's younger brother. "I don't understand when they saying they have all these witnesses, when this lady trying to get away, burning the tires up, my brother pinned up under the car -- and they still let this lady go?"
In May 2012, Russell was cited for driving without a valid license and without her headlights on. Russell, from Maryland, told a friend Wednesday night that she was heading to an event in downtown Fort Lauderdale.