NARANJA, Fla. – An investigation that took about six months recently concluded that a driver was at fault during a crash that killed 48-year-old Alexander Gracia Rodriguez while he jaywalked at about 3 a.m., on U.S. 1, in the Naranja area, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Dorrance Dwayne Pace was driving southbound on U.S. 1 — over 90 mph where the posted speed limit was 45 mph even though the roadway was wet — when he struck Gracia Rodriguez on Aug. 20, according to FHP.
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Toxicology reports revealed Pace had “no signs of alcohol” or drugs, but Gracia Rodriguez had two controlled substances in his blood, according to FHP Trooper Christopher Zarazinski, the lead traffic homicide investigator.
“Due to lack of quantitative amounts ... and lack of witnesses I am unable to determine whether [Gracia Rodriguez] normal faculties were impaired,” Zarazinski wrote.
Pace celebrated his 53rd birthday in October after surviving the crash that destroyed his dark gray 2020 Cadillac CT5 about 10 minutes away from his home in Homestead.
On Wednesday, FHP troopers responded to his home shortly before 6 p.m. and arrested him for vehicular manslaughter. Correctional officers booked him at about 9:30 p.m., at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Zarazinski reported that he couldn’t determine if Pace’s Cadillac had any “mechanical defects or malfunctions” because it was so severely damaged in the rollover crash.
The impact propelled the Cadillac over the sidewalk and grassy shoulder and into a strip mall parking lot where it sideswiped a palm tree and crashed into a building, according to Zarazinski.
Pace was trapped inside the crashed car in the Naranja Plaza. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel had to cut the roof and seatbelt to free him before they could rush him to Jackson South Medical Center.
Meanwhile, Gracia Rodriguez “became airborne, landed in the roadway, and continued to slide” until hitting the curb where MDFR Lt. Eric Sarduy pronounced him dead, according to Zarazinski.
Dr. Calvin Streeter, a Miami-Dade medical examiner, concluded on Aug. 21 that Gracia Rodriguez had died of “blunt force trauma,” records show.
Zarazinski reported the Cadillac’s data did show Pace was traveling at 96 mph about five seconds before the crash.
“The roadway and weather conditions were a contributing factor to the fatal traffic crash,” Zarazinski wrote in his report adding he found surveillance video of the crash from the Retro Video Games store, at 27559 South Dixie Highway.
Miami-Dade prosecutors filed a vehicular homicide case against Pace on Thursday. A judge set his bond at $10,000. He has an old criminal record in Miami-Dade County.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Pace is a felon with convictions for offenses when he was 17 and 29 years old.
In 1987, Pace was convicted of aggravated battery, robbery, and aggravated assault. In 2000, he was convicted of grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary, and grand theft.
State and county records show the FDOC released him from prison on Dec. 27, 2002, and he had not been arrested since in Miami-Dade County. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Ariel is set to preside over Pace’s new case.