MEDLEY, Fla. — Florida Highway Patrol troopers arrested a man on multiple felony charges Thursday after they said he was driving drunk at more than three times the legal limit when he caused a deadly wrong-way crash on the Palmetto Expressway over the summer, killing his passenger.
The crash happened just after 1 a.m. on July 14 near Okeechobee Road in Medley.
Investigators said Ricardo Oreste Rivas Figueredo was driving a Mercedes-Benz SUV north in the southbound express lanes of the highway when he slammed into a Dodge Durango, killing Rivas’ passenger, Marco Tulio Mejia Peralta, and severely injuring the other driver, who was taken to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital.
According to an FHP arrest report, a trooper arrived moments after the crash, having been dispatched to respond to a report of a wrong-way driver.
The report states that the trooper saw Rivas, 41, of west Miami-Dade, pinned behind the steering wheel and his SUV smelled of alcohol.
A blood sample taken at the hospital on the night of the crash ― the results of which came back on Nov. 3 ― revealed that Rivas’ blood alcohol content was .242%, authorities said.
Troopers went to Rivas’ home in the unincorporated Fontainebleau area on Thursday afternoon to take him into custody on charges of DUI manslaughter, reckless vehicular homicide, DUI causing serious bodily injury, reckless driving causing serious bodily injury and reckless driving causing property damage.
As of Friday morning, he was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with a bond listed in Miami-Dade jail records as “to be set.”
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