FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The driver charged in a deadly wreck involving a tow truck on Interstate 95 is getting ready to be released.
Bradley Evan Ruben, 32, faced a judge in a Broward County courtroom Thursday.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, Ruben drove his car into a tow truck that was working to clear the scene of an accident. He crashed into the tow truck that responded to get a woman’s car following a minor crash. That woman’s husband, identified as 63-year-old Juan Pedro Garcia, was struck in the process.
Troopers said Ruben admitted to having consumed a marijuana edible prior to the crash. He told troopers that it had affected him.
Ruben fled the scene on foot before he was arrested.
Robby Sternberg, the tow truck driver, talked about how scary the situation was for him.
“I thought I was dead,” said Sternberg. “I’m just lucky I’m alive right now, talking to you right now.”
Officials said Garcia was standing on the shoulder of the highway when he was struck. He would be pronounced dead at the hospital, a short while after being admitted.
Sternberg described the moments leading up to the crash.
“I came to load up a lady’s vehicle,” he said, “and as I was loading up, I got out of the vehicle to tie her car down, and all of a sudden, I see a vehicle come straight at me, and it pushed me to the side of the highway.”
Ruben is a professional poker player. According to prosecutors, he’s made hundreds of thousands of dollars in his career.
Ruben has been charged with fleeing the scene of an accident.
A judge has set his bond for $100,000.
Once he’s out on bond, the judge ruled that Ruben doesn’t have to wear an ankle monitor. He will also be allowed to travel.
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