The 2019 Toyota Camry was upside-down within the water, with a purple liquid streaming out. At first, a policeman on scene assumed it was radiator fluid, however a close-by officer interjected, “That’s blood, bro.”
The officers stayed on the banks of the canal as they watched two of the youngsters floating within the canal in the course of the February 13, 2021 tragedy. They referred to as for help from a dive group however made no speedy try and rescue the crash victims, based on victims’ households.
Upon arrival, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue pulled the youths out of the water — Terence Valdivia, 14, Jeremiah Calderon, 16, and Rihanna Vargas, 14 — none of whom survived.
At an embankment close to the crash web site, Homestead police stumbled on the driving force, a fifteen-year-old, too younger to have a driver’s license. By all accounts, he had fled twice from officers that morning, reaching speeds of greater than 110 mph within the car, which he had stolen from a member of the family.
Media statements from the Homestead Police Department within the aftermath of the crash — claiming officers weren’t chasing the car — seem to battle with bodycam footage of the pursuit, resulting in questions on whether or not there was a cover-up. The video was obtained by group activist James Eric McDonough by means of a court docket battle with the division.
In a lawsuit filed this week, the households of Vargas and Valdivia are in search of to carry the Homestead Police Department chargeable for leaving the injured teenagers within the canal whereas ready for paramedics to reach.
“These weren’t law enforcement officials that occurred upon a car within the water. They initiated the chase. They knew this was an occupied car… They knew it was within the water, and they didn’t try and rescue a soul,” the households’ legal professional, Joni Mosely, tells New Times.
The medical expert’s studies record blunt pressure trauma as the reason for dying for Vargas and Valdivia, with submersion in water as a contributing issue.
According to Mosely, Homestead officers ought to by no means have initiated the chase within the first place. She says it violated division coverage that bars high-speed pursuits except a suspect is believed to have dedicated a forcible felony equivalent to homicide, rape, or housebreaking.
“This is exactly the kind of police chase that isn’t allowed… They chased these youngsters down as a result of they believed they dedicated a visitors infraction. Three youngsters died so the City of Homestead may attempt to write a visitors ticket,” Mosely claims.
When reached by New Times, the Homestead Police Department declined to touch upon the allegations, saying it doesn’t situation statements on pending litigation.
By all accounts, Homestead police first encountered the Toyota Camry that morning round 3:00 a.m. The driver lower off Officer Belinda Ramirez after which sped away, based on the division.
Another officer, Sgt. Ryan Khawley stumbled on the car an hour later and initiated a high-speed chase on the streets of Homestead. Khawley might be heard on his bodycam footage saying, “I simply misplaced them,” as he heads round a curve on Palm Drive round 4:03 a.m.
Khawley apparently stopped abruptly in entrance of one other automotive and drew his gun earlier than realizing he had the mistaken car. Officers then retraced the chase route till they positioned the Toyota within the canal.
By 4:10 a.m., the Homestead police had noticed a physique floating within the water.
Mosely claims the teenagers have been left within the canal for not less than ten minutes whereas officers waited for paramedics. Vargas was nonetheless trapped within the backseat of the car on the time, Mosely says.
“Despite being first responders, no officers from the Homestead Police Department made any try and rescue Terence Valdivia, Rihanna Vargas, or any of the teenagers from the water earlier than paramedics arrived,” the lawsuit alleges.
Valdivia was transported to Jackson South Community Hospital, the place he handed away at 5:30 a.m. Vargas was pronounced useless twenty minutes later at Homestead Hospital.
A police division spokesperson reportedly instructed the Miami Herald within the aftermath of the crash that Khawley was far-off from the crash and that the incident “was not thought of a chase.”
In May 2022, that narrative was challenged after the activist McDonough filed a mandamus petition in Miami court docket, demanding entry to bodycam footage and different data from the incident. He claimed the police division had improperly withheld the data by citing an open-investigation exception to public data regulation. In his court docket filings, McDonough referred to as it “absurd” that the division would proceed to assert an open investigation after the teenager driver was arrested.
The driver was booked on a cost of vehicular murder, fleeing police, and driving with out a license in the future after McDonough printed an replace on the case on his True Homestead weblog. Under court docket order, the police division in August 2022 launched the data sought by McDonough, which revealed that Khawley was certainly chasing the Toyota Camry previous to the crash.
The households’ lawsuit claims that Khawley’s pre-employment psychological examination in 2012 famous deficiencies in “impulse management” and “lack of problem-solving means.”
Khawley’s employment screening doc, which was signed by a former Homestead chief of police, states that Khawley was “not beneficial” for rent, Mosely says. The legal professional says she continues to be trying into how and why the police division introduced Khawley on the pressure despite the findings of the screening.
The metropolis is the only real defendant within the case.
Terence’s father, Alayn Hernandez, together with Rihanna’s mom, Norma Vargas, are nonetheless reeling from their loss.
“These youngsters have been youngsters. That’s an age if you begin occupied with your kid’s future and notice that they’ve their whole lives forward of them,” Mosely says. “It’s totally devastating… There’s no getting previous one thing like this.”