MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A dangerous drive through a Miami Beach walkway ended with a car submerged in a waterway on Easter Sunday.
The reckless ride ended with a black Toyota sedan plunging into Government Cut, near South Pointe Park.
Andres Asion, who lives nearby, said he heard the crash at around 7 a.m.
“I couldn’t see any cars in the street. When I pan over, and I look at the water, I see the car floating in the water,” he said.
Asion said he called 911 and started recording the water-logged vehicle on his cellphone.
“This guy is drunk, just came from a bar, thought that that was the road, was hauling [expletive] down the boardwalk of the marina and flew over the barrier here and landed in the water,” Asion said in the video as he spoke directly at the camera.
Surveillance video from a nearby building shows the car driving at full speed on South Pointe Park’s paved walking path before it careened into the Atlantic.
A family told officers they were sitting right across from where it happened.
“We saw a car coming because we heard the noise,” said a woman. “He tried to switch, but he couldn’t.”
Miami Beach Police said 22-year-old Yandeivy Chaves Dominguez was behind the wheel of the Toyota.
Asion recorded video showing officers speaking with the young man.
“This is the driver being administered the sobriety test,” Asion is heard saying in the video.
Chaves Dominguez was taken into custody and placed in handcuffs after he failed that field sobriety test.
“He was obviously shaken up. He was extremely cold — the water was chilly — he was intoxicated,” said Asion.
Meanwhile, divers with Miami Beach Fire Rescue made sure no one else was in the car.
“Fire rescue’s going into the water to clear the vehicle to make sure nobody else is in the vehicle,” Asion is heard saying in the cellphone video.
A truck eventually hoisted the Toyota out of the water and towed it away.
Asion said he’s just glad the driver, though now behind bars, survived and that this crash wasn’t worse.
“There were people sitting right here on the pier. Thank God they were on the opposite side, because they obviously would have gotten killed,” he said.
Police said no one else was hurt in this incident.
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