WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Disturbing body camera video captured the moments after, police said, a teenage driver slammed into a car in West Miami-Dade on New Year’s Day, killing four people.
The footage showed 16-year-old Alex Garcia apparently trapped inside an SUV along West Flagler Street and 79th Avenue in the early morning hours of Jan. 1.
“I have never witnessed anything that horrific. The front of Vehicle 1 was embedded in the side of Vehicle 2,” said Florida Highway Patrol Cpl. Christine Gracey. “The brakes were not applied until impact.”
“Break the door! Break the door!” he screamed to responding officers. “Yo, break the door, break the door, break the door.”
The occupants of the SUV were all able to walk away from the mangled vehicle.
Investigators said those riding inside the other car involved in the violent crash would not be as fortunate. Twenty-one-year-old Yuhlia Gelats Barzaga, her boyfriend, 22-year-old Christian Mohip, and their friends, 21-year-old Andres Zacarias and 21-year-old Jenser Salazar, were killed instantly.
“Relax. Yo, the cops are here,” someone is heard telling Garcia in the video.
Investigators said the teen was high and drunk when he slammed into the victims’ Hyundai Elantra.
7News cameras at the scene of the wreck showed the mangled sedan, barely recognizable.
“There was nothing at that immediate moment that I could do for them, unfortunately,” said Miami-Dade Police Officer Brittany Lozada.
“I’m so sorry … God, please forgive me,” Garcia said in the video.
Garcia asked for forgiveness that night. Now he hopes a judge will let him out of jail as he awaits trial.
A roadside memorial for the victims has already been vandalized twice.
Loved ones of those who lost their lives were dealt another painful blow, as the bodycam footage was played in court at Monday’s detention hearing.
Garcia is expected back in court on Tuesday when a judge will decide whether or not to grant him bond pending his trial.
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