MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 17-year-old boy has been charged as an adult in a fatal crash last month that killed his cousin.
According to an arrest report, Edgar Matute admitted to stealing his father's Toyota Celica and driving to Club 60 with his cousin April 17, where he consumed several alcoholic beverages.
Recommended Videos
Police said Matute told detectives that he got into an argument with his cousin on the way home and he lost control of the car and crashed.
Detectives said Matute was speeding north on northwest 17th Avenue approaching 74th Street when he swerved to the right and struck a chain-link fence, drove though a grass field and struck a cement utility pole.
The impact spun the car clockwise before it stopped, police said.
Witnesses told officers that they saw Matute run away without attempting to help his cousin.
Police said a 911 call was later received from Matute's address from his aunt requesting Fire Rescue because the cousins had been involved in a crash.
Matute told detectives that he went home, told his aunt that he had been involved in a car accident and immediately passed out, the report said.
Police said Matute told them that he had never been issued a driver's license.
He was arrested and taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center. Authorities said Matute volunteered to provide blood samples for the purpose of determining its alcohol content.
Matute appeared in adult court Tuesday on charges of reckless vehicular homicide, failing to stop after a vehicular homicide, driving without a license and leaving the scene of a crash involving a death.
He was ordered to be held in jail on $65,000 bond.