A Broward man is facing criminal charges after deputies say he caused a fatal motorcycle crash while racing, with his young daughter in the car at the time.
Steven Seneca was booked into the Broward County Jail Tuesday. He faces a vehicular homicide charge in connection to the death of Liam Reyes.
Police say Reyes lost control of his Honda motorcycle while riding west on Northwest 5th Street near the Sawgrass Expressway in Deerfield Beach. The crash happened on Saturday, Jan. 30 at about noon.
Court records say both drivers were weaving dangerously in and out of traffic.
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“...It was calculated that the Honda motorcycle was traveling at least 126 miles per hour, and the Dodge Charger Hellcat was traveling at least 136 miles per hour,” the investigator wrote in the affidavit.
In bond court Seneca’s attorney pushed back on the criminal charge of vehicular homicide.
“The vehicle swerved off the road and unfortunately there was a tragic loss of life,” said Seneca’s attorney David Tarras. “There’s nothing tying Mr. Seneca to that death other than the fact that there was an alleged high-speed and a potential racing, that’s it."
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He went on to argue how Seneca called 911, stayed at the crash scene until medics arrived but never got out of his car because his five-year-old daughter was inside.
And because she was in the car during an alleged high-speed race, Seneca faces one count of child abuse.
The bond court judge ruled the allegations support the criminal charge.
“The court finds that the allegation that Mr. Seneca was driving 136 mph with his child in the car fits the definition of child abuse,” said the judge.
