MIAMI – A 60-year-old Kendale Lakes man appeared in court on Tuesday accused of a vehicular homicide that happened over seven months ago in western Miami-Dade County.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers arrested Carlos Oropesa-Jimenez on Monday and accused him of driving “in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons by not paying attention to an approaching hazard.”
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The troopers also accused Oropesa-Jimenez of “knowingly driving at over 20 mph the posted speed limit sign and driving in the sidewalk to pass other vehicles.”
The crash on July 24 was at the intersection of Southwest Eighth Street and 142 Avenue, and the victim died on July 25, according to the arrest report released on Tuesday.
Investigators reported Oropesa-Jimenez was driving a gold 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe eastbound on Eighth Street and the victim was in a white 2017 Mercedes Benz GLE 350 traveling northbound on 142 Avenue.
Oropesa-Jimenez was on Eighth Street’s center lane, and the driver of the 2017 Mercedes Benz GLE 350 stopped south of the intersection and blocked the west-east crosswalk, according to the report.
Investigators reported Oropesa-Jimenez switched to the right lane behind a black 2022 Hyundai Venue “and then drove onto the eastbound sidewalk to pass” the traffic.
Oropesa-Jimenez crashed into the left side of the Mercedes Benz GLE 350, and after the impact, his 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe collided with the right side of the 2022 Hyundai Venue, according to investigators who found a video of the crash recorded by a nearby driver’s dashcam.
Investigators met with Oropesa-Jimenez on July 31 who told them he was driving the Chevrolet Tahoe, behind the driver of a red Jeep, who was switching in and out of lanes in front of him, so he switched lanes to avoid hitting the Jeep.
Oropesa-Jimenez reported that he didn’t remember crashing into the Mercedes Benz, and permitted investigators to retrieve the data from his Tahoe, according to the report.
The data showed the Tahoe was traveling at 66 mph, about 2.5 seconds before the crash in an area with a 45 mph speed limit, and the brake “was not engaged,” according to the report.
A witness reported seeing the Tahoe “moving across all lanes of traffic onto the right sidewalk” and when it “passed him at a high speed” he “thought that the driver ... was having a medical episode,” as he was “swerving again to the right sidewalk and colliding” with the Mercedes.
Several witnesses told investigators they saw Oropesa-Jimenez “come out of the driver seat.” Investigators asked Oropesa-Jimenez to meet them on Monday in Hialeah and having concluded their investigation they arrested him.