Ricardo Oreste Rivas-Figueredo, 41, was arrested Thursday on charges including DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide in a reckless manner, DUI causing serious bodily injury, reckless driving causing serious bodily injury, and reckless driving with damage to property or person, according to an arrest report.
A man has been arrested months after an alleged drunken wrong-way crash on the Palmetto Expressway in Miami-Dade that killed his passenger and seriously injured another driver, authorities said.
Ricardo Oreste Rivas-Figueredo, 41, was taken into custody Thursday on charges including DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide in a reckless manner, DUI causing serious bodily injury, reckless driving causing serious bodily injury, and reckless driving with damage to property or person, the arrest report said.
The crash occurred around 1 a.m. on July 14 in the southbound lanes of the Palmetto Expressway near Okeechobee Road.
According to the report, Rivas-Figueredo was driving a white Mercedes SUV northbound in the southbound lanes when he struck a white Dodge SUV head-on.
The Mercedes rolled over and came to rest on its roof. The front passenger, identified as Marco Tulio Mejia Peralta, was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.
The Dodge hit a concrete wall on the shoulder and also rolled over, leaving the driver, Alejandro Nieves Jr., with serious injuries including facial fractures, four broken ribs, and internal bleeding.
Nieves underwent surgery that required removing portions of his large and small intestines. His right arm was broken and required screws and plates, and he continues to suffer from persistent pain and limited mobility months later, the report said.
Rivas-Figueredo was also hospitalized. Blood samples taken after the crash showed a .242 blood alcohol level—more than three times Florida’s legal limit of .08, according to the report.
Rivas-Figueredo was arrested at his northwest Miami-Dade home and booked into jail.
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