CBS4 Exclusive: Warrant Reveals New Details In Deadly Miramar Crash
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MIRAMAR (CBSMiami) - They died doing a good deed.
CBS4 News has uncovered some surprising new details in a Miramar Police search warrant about the crash that killed a young couple.
The document obtained by CBS4 News shows that Miramar Police are investigating the driver, Asia Valentine who is suspected of hitting that couple, for vehicular homicide and manslaughter by culpable negligence.
No criminal charges have been filed at this point but it's clear from the search warrant that Miramar Police are working very hard to unravel what led to the deadly crash.
We're learning that Miramar Police are studying the data recorder from Valeninte's GMC Envoy, in hopes of learning the speed of the vehicle prior to the crash and at impact. Investigators say Valentine hit and killed Gabrielle Camps and Jonah Mosaphir on a dark stretch of Pembroke Road just west of I-75 in the early morning hours of Monday, July 27th.
The young couple was helping push their friend's broken down BMW. The warrant says witnesses told police that the BMW was visible from about a mile away and "The BMW had the lights on, including the hazard lights, according to surviving pedestrians."
The warrant also mentioned the darkness of Pembroke Road, which does not have any street lights in that particular area. Police wrote "The speed of the GMC was in excess of the speed that would be reasonable and prudent to safely drive in the conditions presented."
A Miramar Police Spokesperson told CBS4 News that all those details are still under investigation and that Valentine remained on scene and has cooperated with investigators.
Another new development is whether Valentine tried to swerve to miss the car and the pedestrians. In the initial hours after the deadly crash, Miramar Police said it did appear that Valentine tried to swerve out of the way.
However, detectives say in the warrant that "…there was no evidence of braking or evasive maneuvers prior to the impact with the first pedestrian which was approximately 10 feet to the rear of the vehicle…"
That was news to Andrew Yaffa, the attorney for the family of Gabrielle Camps, who was the first person hit.
"With this additional information of the defendant driver hitting Gabrielle, not appreciating that she impacted a pedestrian who went over the hood and hit the windshield and yet she continued at this speed, hitting another young man, taking another life," Yaffa told CBS4's Carey Codd. "There's something more going on here."
Raul Molina wonders the same thing. His son Justin barely escaped injury in the crash.
"How is it that the first realization she had of something going wrong was when she hit Gaby full force," Molina said.
Molina and Yaffa said it remains a mystery why Valentine was unable to see the vehicle or the people pushing it.
The families of the victims say they are devastated by the loss of two happy, vibrant young people and they pray the investigation uncovers what led to this fatal crash.
"To be taken from their families when they had such a future ahead of them, so much potential," Molina said. "They were so much in love with each other."
The attorney for Gabrielle Camps family said he is not aware of investigators checking the suspected driver for possible drug or alcohol use following the crash. The search warrant does not mention anything about it either. A police spokesperson would only say that everything surrounding this crash remains under investigation.