A teen who was behind the wheel of a stolen car that crashed into Miami-Dade College's Liberty City campus, killing a passenger and critically injuring three others, has been charged with vehicular homicide, police said.
The 16-year-old is also facing charges of reckless driving, leaving the scene of a crash with a death, leaving the scene of an accident causing injury and driving without a driver's license in the Tuesday morning crash, according to a Miami Police arrest affidavit released Wednesday.
According to the affidavit, the teen and four others were in the 2013 Lincoln MKZ heading northbound on Northwest 7th Avenue when they sped through a red light at Northwest 62nd Street shortly before 1 a.m.
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Traffic light camera footage, released by police on Wednesday, captured the car speed through the intersection, narrowly missing several cars.
After the teen over-steered to avoid the cars, he hit a curb, lost control and slammed into a concrete pillar at MDC's Carrie P. Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center at 6300 Northwest 7th Avenue, a couple blocks from the intersection, the affidavit said.
The car caught fire upon impact, and one of the passengers became trapped and died at the scene, the affidavit said. The teen was able to climb out of a sunroof, flagged down a passerby and asked for a ride home, leaving the rest of the critically injured passengers in the burning car, the affidavit said.
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A surveillance camera at the college caught the teen climbing out of the car and limping away from the scene, the affidavit said.
The passengers were later taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where one was in critical condition and two were stable, police said.
When he arrived home, his family called fire rescue and he was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released. He reported that he had been in a fight which had caused his injuries, the affidavit said.
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When police questioned him about the crash, he denied being behind the wheel at first but later admitted he was driving the car, the affidavit said. He also admitted he didn't have a driver's license, the affidavit said.
The teen told police a brake and steering malfunction caused the crash, the affidavit said.
Police said the car had been stolen from the area of Northwest 13th Avenue and Northwest 147th Street on August 18.
The violent crash caused daytime classes to be cancelled Tuesday as authorities cleaned up the scene and investigated the crash.
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