The driver involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed a teenage skateboarder in Miami-Dade turned himself in to police early Tuesday.
According to police, 28-year-old Gabriel Fleuricourt turned himself in to Miami Police Tuesday and confessed that he was behind the wheel of a 2007 Hyundai Sonata when it fatally struck 16-year-old Cash Pereira as he rode on a skateboard Monday night.
The crash happened just before 9:15 p.m. near Northwest 108th Street and Northwest 12th Avenue.
Investigators said Pereira was skateboarding on 12th Avenue when Fleuricourt struck him with his car. After the collision, police Fleuricourt fled the scene.
Pereira was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fleuricourt informed police of the whereabouts of the vehicle. Miami-Dade Police Department investigators then responded to that location and determined that the car was involved in the crash.
Fleuricourt was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of an accident with death, failure to have insurance, and failure to have a valid tag/registration.
He was released from jail on $10,500 bond, but he'll be on house arrest. It is not known if he has hired an attorney.
Fleuricourt told NBC 6 he was trying to pass a car that slowed down on the one-lane road, when he struck the teen.
"As I decided to cut to the left side, they went ahead and going like 45 and I did the same thing but I didn't mean any of this. I'm not a bad person," Fleuricourt said. "I was just so paranoid but I turned myself in, I panicked, but I turned myself in. I did the right thing but I didn't mean any of this."
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At the scene Tuesday morning, friends and family members gathered at a makeshift memorial to remember Pereira.
"Cash was funny. Everybody loved Cash. Everybody wanted to be with Cash," friend David Orellana said.
They described him as outgoing with lots of friends, and said he was entering his senior year at Miami Central High School.
"May he rest in peace, may he enjoy his life in another world," father Toni Pereira said. "We miss him, we love him, he was a loving child, he was so caring for everybody."
Fleuricourt has never been arrested, but has had 13 traffic citations since 2010, according to court records.
