FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A 44-year-old woman accused of a wrong-way head-on crash on the Express Lanes of Interstate 95 last year in Broward County appeared in court on Wednesday.
According to a Jan. 27 Florida Highway Patrol report, Giselle Valentin had cocaine in her system and her blood alcohol level was well above the legal limit when she crashed.
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“I observed a small baggy containing a white powdery substance on her passenger floorboard near her purse,” FHP Trooper Frank Hernandez wrote in his report about the crash on July 26 in Oakland Park.
Hernandez reported two minors were among the injured when Valentin, of Tamarac, crashed the white 2018 Audi into a red Chrysler Pacifica shortly after 2:40 a.m., near Commercial Boulevard.
After a warrant for Valentin’s arrest was issued on March 18, Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested her on Tuesday and she was at the main jail in Fort Lauderdale facing nine charges.
Court records show Valentin’s attorney filed a written plea of not guilty on Wednesday. Broward County Circuit Judge Peter Holden is presiding over her felony case.
Valentin is facing four counts of DUI with serious bodily injury, two counts of reckless driving causing serious bodily injury, cocaine possession, DUI with property damage or injury, and reckless driving with property damage or injury. Her bond was set at $49,500.