HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The man that police say is responsible for the deaths of 3 people including a pregnant woman and her unborn child was traveling 109 miles per hour when investigators say he went through a red light, t-boned one car, then crashed into another.
Investigators said Tomas Javier Rodriguez, 25, of Miami, was taken into custody Friday after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He has been formally charged in the fatal wreck that killed three in his car, including an unborn baby, and critically injured another.
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Homestead Police Department investigators said that it was Rodriguez who was driving the 2015 Infiniti Q50 on May 1, 2021 at 10:16 p.m. with three passengers in his car including a woman who was eight months pregnant, when he ran through a traffic light that was turning red. They also determined that Rodriguez did not have a Florida drivers’ license at the time of the crash.
The car was traveling eastbound on Northeast 8th Street at what investigators said was a high rate of speed towards the intersection of Northeast 33rd Avenue. It was then that the car Rodriguez was driving smashed into a 2019 Nissan Pathfinder.
Data recovered from the Infiniti’s black box recorded the car going 109 miles per hour as it speeded through the red light and hit the Pathfinder.
Rodriguez’s car then hit a 2021 Honda Pilot that was exiting out of a parking space of the Dairy Queen lot at 3330 Northeast 8th St.
Video obtained from the RaceTrac Gas Station at 3310 Northeast 8th St. showed Rodriquez’s vehicle approaching the intersection, then not stopping for the red light, which caused the chain of events to happen, investigators said.
Joshua Nicholas Guerra, 23, who was in the passenger seat of Rodriguez’s vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene. Krystine Aras, 28, who was eight month’s pregnant, was transported to Jackson South and died at the hospital a little more than an hour after the crash. An emergency C-section was performed in an attempt to save the life of the unborn baby boy, Damian, but the lifesaving efforts proved unsuccessful. Aras was in the left rear passenger seat. In the right rear passenger seat was Lunane Castellano, 30, who sustained critical injuries, but survived.
The Miami Dade Medical Examiner’s Officer determined that all three deaths were the result of multiple blunt force injuries from the crash.
“She was 28 she had 2 daughters and, of course, the baby she lost because of his negligence,” a woman named Lisi who identified herself as Aras’ aunt told Local 10′s Andrew Perez. “She was a beautiful person inside and out. She had many friends that loved her. She just made the big mistake being with this person that was no good.” Lisi said that the driver was her boyfriend, but did not say if he was the father of the baby who died in the crash. The other two people in the car were Rodriguez’s friends, the woman said.
Rodriguez was transported to Jackson South Trauma Center for injuries sustained in the crash. When a Homestead Police Officer located Rodriguez in the car, he said there was “a strong odor of marijuana omitting from the vehicle while Miami Dade Fire was working the scene.” While at the hospital, Homestead Police confiscated 30 grams of marijuana, which they said Rodriguez was in possession of.
The driver’s blood was also drawn, which revealed his blood alcohol content was .26%, three times the legal limit of 0.08%.
Rodriguez faces three counts of DUI manslaughter, 3 counts of vehicular homicide, 1 count of DUI with serious bodily injuries, 3 counts of DUI with damage to property, one count of running a red light and one count of driving without a license.