FIU community mourns student killed while crossing street near main campus

Alexis Dale, 18, moved to Miami to study information technology

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The Florida International University community continues to mourn a student who was killed early Sunday while crossing the street near the university’s main campus.

The crash happened near the Modesto A. Maidique Campus, at 11200 SW Eighth St.

Cellphone video shows police and fire rescue trucks at the scene as a tarp covered the body of 18-year-old Alexis Dale.

"We were upstairs and we saw what happened -- saw the car," FIU student Gabriela Collazo said. 

Those who live in student housing buildings in Sweetwater cross the busy street each day to get to campus.

"I just moved in and I've probably crossed like 35 times," Collazo said. 

"I cross Southwest Eighth Street about three to four times a day," another student, Steven Lewis, said.

Sweetwater officials said shuttles are offered to students to move safely between the city's student buildings and the FIU main campus. The shuttles stop operating at sundown.

"The shuttle isn't running at 3 a.m. The shuttle ends at nightfall," Sweetwater Mayor Orlando Lopez said. "But the pedestrian was crossing when she shouldn't have been. The traffic had the green light. They have to use extreme caution and obey all traffic laws." 

The university and the city of Sweetwater have partnered to build a pedestrian bridge that will lead from the student housing buildings to campus.

The project had been underway even before Dale's death and is expected to be completed late next year.

"We've told the developer to speed up the bridge and worry about the streets and plaza afterwards. Those are secondary -- the bridge comes first," Lopez said. 

Dale, who was originally from Denver and at one time lived in San Diego, moved to Miami to study information technology.

The Florida Highway Patrol was investigating the crash.

Grief counselors have been made available to students and staff at the university.

 


About the Authors:

Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.

Liane Morejon is an Emmy-winning reporter who joined the Local 10 News family in January 2010. Born and raised in Coral Gables, Liane has a unique perspective on covering news in her own backyard.