The wrong-way driver who killed a close knit-group of five friends — including an NYU-bound artist — has been arrested and charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, officials said.
Maiky Simeon was driving against traffic on the Palmetto Expressway at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning and crashed head-on into a Honda sedan carrying the group.
All five occupants — aged 18 to 25 — were pronounced dead at the scene.
Simeon was extracted from his Infiniti sedan by emergency workers and taken to a hospital where he remains with serious injuries.
The Florida Highway Patrol announced that he was formally arrested and charged in connection with the horrific wreck.
“Mr. Simeon has been arrested and charged with 5 counts of Vehicular Homicide,” the agency said. “Troopers are awaiting the results of a toxicology report to determine if impairment was a contributing factor. If it is determined that Mr. Simeon was impaired at the time of the crash, additional charges will be filed.”
Officials said Simeon is under guard at the hospital and will be taken to jail and arraigned after his discharge.
The victims were identified as Valeria Cáceres, Daniela Marcano, Valeria Peña, Giancarlo Arias and driver Briana Pacalagua.
According to the Miami Herald, Arias was heading to college at New York University and the group was celebrating his receipt of a scholarship.
Tributes and donations continued to pour in for the crash victims and their families Tuesday.
Pacalagua’s devastated grandmother, Clara Cortes, described her to CBS 4.
“My granddaughter was a great girl,” she told the station in Spanish. “She was very studious. She was marvelous. She did everything. She was a hard worker. She would bring me chocolates and flowers. She was a good friend to everyone.”