HIALEAH GARDENS, Fla. – A school bus with Hialeah Gardens Middle School students onboard was involved in a fatal crash involving four other vehicles and a pedestrian on Tuesday afternoon.
Hialeah Gardens Police Department detectives were investigating the death of the pedestrian. According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, a man and a child were also injured.
It all started when a man who was driving a Dodge pickup truck southbound on the Palmetto Expressway exited at 103rd Street. He ran over a pedestrian and crashed into an Audi, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
He was later identified as 38-year-old Lavarius C. Bethel.
The drivers of a Ford sedan, a white Honda sedan and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools bus got caught in the chain-reaction crash at Northwest 103rd Street and Northwest 77th Avenue, according to troopers.
A girl who was on the school bus said a window shattered and some of the glass fell on her lap. She wasn’t injured and said neither were the other frightened students who were with her.
Bethel was placed in handcuffs after the incident and officers temporarily closed the intersection.
FHP Lt. Alex Camacho confirmed Wednesday that a blood sample was taken to determine whether Bethel was impaired while driving. Authorities are still waiting on the toxicology report.
Location
6 p.m. traffic report
5 p.m. report
This is a developing story. Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editors Emily Hales and Aura Martinez contributed to this report.