In a bizarre mishap on Easter Sunday, a driver allegedly intoxicated, mistook the popular South Beach boardwalk for a thoroughfare and careened his vehicle into the watery depths of Government Cut, a channel adjacent to South Pointe Park. According to Local10, witnesses observed the blue 2021 Toyota Corolla plunging into the channel after speeding down the promenade early in the morning.
Morning peace was shattered by a loud noise, alerting nearby residents, including real estate broker Andres Asion, to the aquatic insertion of a car outside his high-rise home. "This guy is drunk, just came from a bar, thought that that was the road," Asion told Local10, recounting the driver's reckless journey to a premature stop amidst the brine.
The driver, identified by officers as 22-year-old Yandeivy Chaves Dominguez from Miami's Flagami neighborhood, managed to swim from the crashed vehicle. His soaked attire and bare feet presented a sorry silhouette as he faced the music on land – a failed sobriety test administered by the watching Miami Beach police officers. Charged with driving under the influence, Chaves Dominguez was then booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Emergency responders, alongside Miami Beach Fire Rescue divers, canvassed the waters ensuring no passengers accompanied the lone driver in his ill-advised dive. "Fire rescue's going into the water to clear the vehicle to make sure nobody else is in the vehicle," Asion is heard saying in video footage he captured on the scene. Unfelded events resulted in no further injuries, and a tow truck later retrieved the inundated Corolla from its unplanned berth.
Reflecting on a calamity narrowly averted, Asion expressed relief to WSVN that onlookers were unharmed. He highlighted the peril customers seated on the pier faced had they not been on the opposite side, which could have ended tragically. Despite the damage and arrest, fortune favored the day as more severe consequences were sidestepped – a toast to serendipity and unintended mercy.
