HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) - A police-involved crash killed a South Florida teacher and sent two Hialeah Police officers to the hospital.
According to officials, a black Volkswagen Passat crashed into another car occupied by Hialeah Police officers Ernesto Del Valle and Daniel Garcia-Muniz in the area of East Fifth Avenue and Hialeah Drive, at around 7 p.m., Tuesday.
“Something terrible, like a big explosion,” said Eduardo Valdes who heard the crash.
Hialeah Police confirmed that the other driver, 51-year-old Orestes Amador Jr., died at the scene.
The officers were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Amador Jr. was a high school math teacher at Design and Architecture High School (DASH).
Miami-Dade School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho tweeted when he heard the news.
Painful way to start the year receiving news that one of our esteemed teachers lost his life in a terrible car accident. Prayers for those who loved him, including his @DASHphantoms family.
— Alberto M. Carvalho (@LAUSDSup) January 3, 2018
“He was very much a lover of life,” said Marina Bravo, a friend of Amador Jr. “He loved to travel, and he took care of his mom, who had cancer. He took care of his father, who had Alzheimer’s.”
The front of an ice cream shop in the area was left with damage due to the crash, Wednesday.
“Sounded like an explosion. It was really, really loud. I thought one of these huge machines had fallen because it was so loud,” said Claudia Miranda, who was in the shop at the time of the crash. “There was like smoke everywhere, and I looked outside the drive-thru window, and there was just a car in the shop.”
An employee told 7News what one of her co-workers saw. “She told me she was taking an order in the drive-thru and that all she heard was a big boom,” Tiana said. “She was like, ‘Oh, my God,’ and when she opened the drive-thru window, all the smoke was coming out inside.”
Caution tape was put up around the glass blocks that were impacted.
No one at the ice cream store was injured. “They told her if the building wasn’t that hard, that the car could have gone inside and something could have happened,” the employee said.
Investigators worked well into the night, blocking off parts of Hialeah Drive.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office will monitor the investigation.
Hialeah Police said the two officers involved are in stable condition.
The school district said that grief counselors will be on hand at DASH on Monday.
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