Miami Accident Lawyer Blog
Too often, negligent drivers fail to appreciate the severity of their actions. This is a lesson which one young Miami resident learned the hard way. Franklin Chavez, a twenty-four-year-old massage therapist, was sentenced to seven years in prison and eight years on probation for causing an accident which killed a young medical student and crippled her brother.
A Fun Night Turned Nightmare
The accident caused by Franklin Chavez occurred in December 2015. He began his evening by joining his Crossfit friends at a bar. Later, he went to another bar, where he was believed to have been drinking through the night. At 5:22 a.m., Chavez was traveling the wrong way on the I-95. His Toyota Yaris did not have its lights on. He slammed into a vehicle driven by Elisa Diaz at over seventy miles per hour. Diaz’ children, Carmen and Bryan Criales, were passengers. Twenty-three-year-old Carmen, a medical student, was killed on impact. The force of the collision was so violent that her body could not be removed from the vehicle on the scene. Bryan and Elisa were taken to a hospital in critical condition. Elisa was forced to miss her daughter’s funeral, and Bryan was confined to a wheelchair. He no longer has the ability to speak.