MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 19-year-old turned himself in to authorities Monday in connection with a fatal crash that left one of his friends dead and four others injured.
The crash occurred around 7 a.m. Jan. 2 in the area of Southwest 137th Avenue and 128th Street in Miami-Dade County.
According to his arrest report, Davian Andres Kates was driving a 2020 Infiniti Q50 at a high rate of speed when he lost control of the vehicle, swerved to the left and drove onto the raised median, striking several large palm trees.
Police said the car rotated several times counter-clockwise before coming to a final rest.
According to the arrest report, Kates got out of the car and ran away without first trying to help the people in his car or calling 911.
He now faces eight felony charges.
One of the passengers, Joseph Gabriel McGuire, 18, who had been sitting in the left rear passenger seat, was airlifted to Jackson South Medical Center, where he died.
The four other passengers all sustained serious injuries in the crash and were hospitalized at either Kendall Regional Medical Center or at Jackson South Medical Center. Police said the other victims were a 14-year-old girl, a 15-year-old girl, a 16-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy.
Both of the girls had been ejected from the vehicle during the crash, the arrest report stated.
“I pray they all get better,” Kates told Local 10 News reporter Saira Anwer on Tuesday.
According to his arrest report, Kates went to the Miami-Dade Police Department headquarters the next day with his private attorney and provided detectives with a statement, which was redacted from the report.
He then surrendered to authorities on Monday.
One of the teenage crash victims told police that, after the crash, Kates told him “Yo, I’m going to jail dawg, I love you” — and that was the last time he saw Kates.
Kates was released from jail Tuesday after posting bail. He told Anwer that he is sorry about what happened and wants to apologize to his friends and to McGuire’s family members.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all that. It was an accident,” he said.
Kates said the ordeal has been “traumatizing.”
“(It’s) stuck in my head forever,” he said.