FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A 19-year-old Fort Lauderdale man is facing DUI manslaughter charges in connection with a fatal crash that police say occurred late last year.
Jail records show Brandon Robert Gunn is facing one count each of vehicular manslaughter with DUI causing death to a human and vehicular manslaughter killing of a human being or unborn child.
According to his arrest report, the crash happened around 4 a.m. on Dec. 27, 2024, in the 1000 block of East Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.
Police said Gunn, then 18, was driving a silver Ford Focus westbound when he struck a person who was walking northbound in the crosswalk.
The victim, whose name was redacted from the report, was hit by the front of Gunn’s car and “(slid) over 300 feet from the area of impact to his final rest,” the report stated. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators noted that Gunn’s vehicle had extensive damage to the front hood, windshield, both ends of the roof and rear window.
They said there was blood on the back of the vehicle and the driver’s side knee airbag had deployed following the crash. Police said they also found shattered glass and a “significant amount” of blood in the driver’s seat.
“This damage was consistent with the vehicle striking a pedestrian at an excessive speed, consistent with the scene evidence,” detectives wrote in the report.
Gunn spoke with officers at the scene and said he was westbound when “some homeless guy ran out in front of me and I hit him,” the report stated.
When asked how fast he was driving, Gunn said “55 mph.” He denied having drunk any alcohol when questioned by both police officers and Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue crews, authorities said.
However, they said surveillance video showed Gunn’s vehicle accelerating in the seconds before the crash.
At the moment the airbag deployed, the car was traveling approximately 83 mph in a 35 mph zone, according to the report.
Authorities said Gunn had “bloodshot watery eyes and an odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath.”
A blood test conducted more than four hours after the crash revealed the presence of ethanol and THC, and a blood-alcohol content of .127%. The legal limit for BAC in Florida is .08%.
As of Tuesday, he was being held on a $75,000 bond at the Broward Main Jail.
A judge ruled that Gunn may drive only for work purposes, ordered him to surrender his passport and prohibited him from using drugs and alcohol. All charges carry bond, plus pretrial release and electronic alcohol monitoring.
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