Man Who Had License Revoked Causes Crash, Five People Reported Dead In Florida

A 30-year-old man who had his license revoked eight years ago has been charged with five counts of vehicular homicide for causing a wrong-way crash that claimed the lives of five people.

Arrested was Maiky Simeon who was reportedly driving against traffic on the Palmetto Expressway at around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday. His vehicle crashed head-on into the Honda sedan that was carrying the group of five.

The five people in the said vehicle were aged 18 to 25. All were pronounced dead at the scene, the Post reported.

Simeon was driving an Infiniti sedan at the time. He was extracted from the vehicle by emergency workers and was reportedly brought to the hospital where he is being treated for serious injuries.

“Mr. Simeon has been arrested and charged with 5 counts of Vehicular Homicide,” the agency said. “Troopers are awaiting the results of a toxicology report to determine if impairment was a contributing factor. If it is determined that Mr. Simeon was impaired at the time of the crash, additional charges will be filed,” the Florida Highway Patrol stated.

Once he is up and about, Simeon will be taken to jail and will be arraigned.

The five individuals who died from the crash were identified as Valeria Cáceres, Daniela Marcano, Valeria Peña, Giancarlo Arias and driver Briana Pacalagua.

In a report from the Miami Herald, it was learned that the group was celebrating with Arias set to go to college at New York University.

Clara Cortes, the grandmother of Pacalagua was devastated to learn about her granddaughter’s demise, CBS 4 reported.

“My granddaughter was a great girl,” she told the station in Spanish. “She was very studious. She was marvelous. She did everything. She was a hard worker. She would bring me chocolates and flowers. She was a good friend to everyone,” she said.