Little Haiti community grieves after drunken driver kills 3 teens

Uncle Luke at memorial: Little Haiti FC Soccer Club players 'were good kids'

MIAMI – For some of the grief-stricken people who attended a memorial Thursday in Miami's Little Haiti, the evening rain felt like tears that were falling from heaven.

The community came together to honor three gifted athletes: Gedeon Desir, 13, a North Miami Middle School student, and two Miami Edison High School students, Lens Desir, 15, and Richecarde Dumay, 17.

"It's really painful because you see three boys that really had, like, a great future ahead of them," Carnie Lazarre, a former teacher, said. 

Detectives said a drunken driver mowed down the three Haitian-American friends. Surveillance video shows the boys walking over the tracks about 5:15 a.m. May 25 at Northeast 125th Street and Northeast 13th Place in North Miami.

The disciplined boys had woken up early to go to a soccer tournament. Dumay played both soccer and football. Luther Campbell, better known as rapper Uncle Luke, was Dumay's football coach at Miami Edison Senior High School, where he wore No. 25.

"I just want this community to hold on, you know, to their memories with these kids, because these were good kids," Campbell said. 

Family members in attendance were inconsolable. The Little Haiti FC Soccer Club field where the boys once played was the site of their memorial.

Pat Santangelo, a former Florida Highway Patrol spokesman who co-founded the soccer club, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez were also in attendance. 

"The grief is incomprehensible," Suarez said. "And you can hear it in the family members who are having a hard time controlling their emotions."

Meanwhile, doctors at Aventura Hospital released Miriam Coulibaly, 31, who is accused of running over the boys while driving under the influence. Her blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit, police said.

Officers took her straight to a Miami-Dade County jail. She appeared in front of Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Renatha S. Francis with her head bandaged.

Coulibaly's license is suspended and she has a long history of traffic violations. She is facing three counts of DUI manslaughter and three counts of vehicular homicide. 

The Little Haiti FC Soccer Club set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help the families of the three boys to cover the funeral costs and travel expenses.


About the Authors:

Louis Aguirre is an Emmy-award winning journalist who anchors weekday newscasts and serves as WPLG Local 10’s Environmental Advocate.

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.