A 21-year-old Miami Dade College student is facing a vehicular homicide charge after police say he was driving 80 miles an hour in a 30-mile-per-hour zone before colliding head-on with another car in Hialeah, killing the other driver, according to the arrest affidavit.
Kevin Brito Rios was behind the wheel of a white 2022 Toyota Supra traveling south on West 20th Avenue near West 76th Street just before 9 p.m. on Oct. 27 when he crossed into the northbound lane and slammed into another car, police said. Officers had clocked his vehicle earlier going 80 mph in a 30-mph zone along West 26th Avenue, according to the report.
The affidavit said an officer tried to follow Brito Rios after spotting him speeding, weaving through lanes and even driving the wrong way toward oncoming traffic while overtaking other cars. Investigators said he was driving in the wrong direction when he collided head-on with another vehicle.
The driver of the other car was taken to Kendall Regional Hospital with multiple broken ribs, a ruptured pelvis and severe internal injuries, and was pronounced dead the following night, according to police. A passenger in that vehicle suffered facial fractures but survived. Police have not yet released their names.
Judge reprimands Miami Dade College student accused in deadly Hialeah crash
During Friday’s bond hearing, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy Glazer noted that “an officer clocked him on radar going 80 miles per hour in a 30-mile-per-hour zone. He’s overtaking vehicles and he’s crossing lanes.”
A defense attorney argued that Brito Rios, a senior at Miami Dade College who works at the airport and has no prior arrests, is a law-abiding citizen. Glazer disagreed.
“He is not a law-abiding citizen,” the judge said. “He exceeded the speed limit and killed somebody. He committed a serious traffic offense.”
Miami-Dade Corrections
When the defense questioned the basis for the charge, Glazer replied: “You are telling me it is OK to go in the northbound lanes after you are going too fast to stay in your own lane and then crash into somebody head-on. I’m sorry, but there is probable cause for vehicular homicide.”
Glazer set Brito Rios’s bond at $25,000 and appointed a public defender to represent him.
“I am sure the victim who he killed would love to come to court and say give me a bond, but he cannot because he is dead,” the judge said. “I think he is 21 and he made a really bad mistake. A lot of people don’t realize how dangerous a vehicle can be when it exceeds the speed.”
Brito Rios remained jailed Friday pending further court proceedings.
