‘I meant to do it, I just want to die,’ woman who caused fatal crash told witness

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – A 60-year-old woman who deputies said caused a fatal crash last week in Pompano Beach told a witness that she intentionally caused the crash because she was trying to kill herself, her arrest report stated.

“I meant to do it. I just want to die. I don’t want to be here,” Tamera Leigh Prevo said, according to the witness.

The witness told responding deputies that Prevo appeared to be inebriated.

According to Prevo’s arrest report, she had visited a man’s office earlier in the day on May 19 and became jealous after seeing a photo of the man’s ex-wife on a shelf.

Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies said Prevo confronted the man, took a bottle of vodka from his office and left in her 2013 silver Hyundai Sonata.

Deputies said witnesses saw her driving “aggressively” to her mother’s home along Cypress Boulevard in the Palm Aire neighborhood of Pompano Beach before she parked, slammed her car door and went inside.

A witness told deputies he saw Prevo get back into her car just before 5:30 p.m., run a stop sign and make a left onto Cypress Boulevard.

He said he then saw Prevo crash her car into a white Toyota RAV-4.

“It was weaving like this,” crash victim Delia Robinson told Local 10 News reporter Hatzel Vela.

Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to remove Robinson and her husband, Gerald Robinson, 81, from that RAV-4.

“He was bleeding, his hand was bleeding, and I said, ‘Honey, I’m going to release your belt,’” Delia Robinson said.

Gerald Robinson, who underwent bypass surgery in late April, died over the weekend. He had just been released from Cleveland Clinic when the accident occurred.

“He was to be home from a block away, and he never made it,” Delia Robinson said through tears. “Forty-four years, no family, I’m all alone. Thank God I have friends.”

Prevo was arrested Tuesday on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. She remains jailed in lieu of a $50,000 bond.

Local 10 News learned during her court appearance that Prevo has had four prior DUI arrests.

A Broward County judge ordered that Prevo be subject to random alcohol testing if she posts bail. She will also be outfitted with a GPS ankle monitor and will not be allowed to operate a motor vehicle.


About the Authors:

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

In January 2017, Hatzel Vela became the first local television journalist in the country to move to Cuba and cover the island from the inside. During his time living and working in Cuba, he covered some of the most significant stories in a post-Fidel Castro Cuba.