MIAMI – A teenage boy appeared in court on Friday to face charges as an adult after detectives accused him of being involved in a hit-and-run crash while he was driving impaired in January in western Miami-Dade County, records show.
After he ran over a pedestrian while driving a white Mini Cooper on Jan. 14 near the intersection of Southwest 187 Avenue and 176 Street, the 17-year-old boy ran away, but witnesses followed and caught him, according to the arrest report.
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A witness used a bandana to restrain Francisco Lopez’s wrists and took him back to the scene of the crash where they waited for Miami-Dade police officers to arrive, according to the arrest report.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel used a helicopter to rush the victim injured to Jackson South Hospital. A witness told police officers that Francisco was a reckless driver who had swerved from side to side, according to a police report.
Police officers reported Lopez’s eyes were “glossy and red, and his speech was slurred” and while performing field sobriety exercises in the parking lot of MDPD’s Hammocks station, he “could not hold the position” and “stepped off the line.”
Police officers arrested Lopez and took him to juvenile detention. Prosecutors later charged him as an adult for leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injury. Records show corrections officers booked him at about 6:15 p.m., on Thursday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where he remained on Friday night.
Detectives were asking anyone with information about the case to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.