Two Florida men who were drag-racing down a busy city street and started a multiple-car collision, leaving one woman dead and 10 others injured, are now facing charges.
The pair began racing down State Road 7, one of the busiest roads in Broward Country, around midday on June 8. They started near Interstate 595, slowed near Northwest 7th Street, then took off again just past Sunrise Boulevard, the Sun Sentinel reported.
The two vehicles were weaving through traffic. Lauderhill Police Lt. Michael Santiago said at the time, “That swerving caused a chain reaction crash with other vehicles.”
As the pair passed The Dutch Spot Jamaican restaurant, one of the cars struck a black SUV, sending it careening across the sidewalk and into a bus stop, hitting two women. Security camera footage from nearby recorded the grisly scene.
The black SUV is pushed towards the sidewalk and bus stop. (Screenshot—ABC-10)One of the women, 57-year-old Helaine Elize, was killed on impact. He sister, Elsiane Tulisse, was struck and injured. Seven others, including two people who were sitting on benches at the bus stop, were also injured in the crash.
Four people were transported to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale in critical condition. Two victims were sent to Plantation General Hospital, and another went to Florida Medical Center.
“They were treated for injuries from flying debris, but did not want to be transported, Lauderhill Police Lt. Michael Santiago told the Sun-Sentinel.
Lauderdale police arrested 23-year-old Andrew Wallace of Lauderdale Lakes on charges of vehicular homicide, reckless driving for causing a lethal crash, and several counts of reckless driving with property damage. He is being held on $251,100 bail, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Wallace was driving the car that hit the SUV. Police Lt. Santiago told the Sun-Sentinel that “three to four” other cars were damaged in the incident.
A detail of the area of impact, moments before the SUV struck the two women. (Screenshot—ABC-10)The second driver, Jerome Johnson, 36, of Margate, was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving.
Wallace lost control after the impact and slammed into a utility pole. Police said that they couldn’t investigate the scene until Florida Power & Light repaired the downed power line.
Police were able to reconstruct much of the incident using security-camera video footage from several local businesses and also from a county bus which happened to be passing by.
Wallace, driving a gray 2004 Acura TL, hit speeds of 73 mph in the 40-mph zone, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Johnson, driving a red Dodge Neon SRT, was traveling at speeds up to 63 mph.
Both drivers denied that they were racing, and both said they did not know each other.
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