Charge added for Army soldier arrested following fatal crash in northwest Miami-Dade

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — An Army solider who is accused of fleeing from a deputy during a traffic stop last week, resulting in a fatal crash in northwest Miami-Dade, is now charged with vehicular homicide, jail records show.

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According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the crash happened around 7:40 p.m. Sept. 2 near Northwest 51st Terrace and Northwest 33rd Avenue.

Deputies said they had conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle and confirmed during that stop that the driver, Luis Manuel Perez, 21, of Miami, had an outstanding warrant from the U.S. military, but he fled from them.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Army confirmed that Perez has been wanted for military desertion since February.

“As additional RID units responded to the area the driver entered a dead-end street,” an MDSO spokesperson told Local 10 News in an email last week. “After turning around, the driver ran a stop sign, colliding with a civilian vehicle causing it to flip. The impact caused the vehicles to subsequently collide with an unmarked MDSO vehicle occupied by an RID deputy who was in the area searching for the subject.”

A picture obtained by Local 10 shows the flipped vehicle. Perez can also be seen on the ground, in handcuffs.

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The driver of the civilian vehicle, identified as Bahamian artist Stefan GermaineDavis, 55, was taken by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition, but he later died, authorities confirmed.

Deputies said Perez was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital to be evaluated, and the deputy was treated at the scene by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

“One of the police officers who was in the car, he came out and was shaking his arm,” neighbor Norman Bradley said. “His arm was kind of messed up.”

Perez was initially arrested on a charge of fleeing and eluding a police officer. Vehicular homicide was added to his charges this week.

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As of Thursday afternoon, he remained held at the Metrowest Detention Center.