A 28-year-old Miami man is facing DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide charges after police say he was drunk, high on marijuana, and driving 83 mph on West Flagler Street when he slammed into another car and killed the driver. Maykel Mulet Sanchez was taken into custody Monday at his home in Grapeland Heights, months after the crash that police say tore through a Flagami intersection and left a man dead.
According to WPLG Local 10, the crash happened just after 5:45 p.m. on April 18 in the 6000 block of West Flagler Street. Police say Mulet Sanchez was traveling 83 mph one second before impact, according to vehicle data cited in the report — more than double the roughly 35 to 40 mph speed limit typical of commercial corridors like this one, according to Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization data on the corridor.
Police say Mulet Sanchez attempted an evasive maneuver, steering to the left, before crashing into a driver who was making a right turn from Northwest 60th Avenue, per the Miami Police Department report referenced in the outlet's coverage. The impact reportedly sent his vehicle onto the sidewalk, through bushes, and into an apartment complex wall. The other driver, whose identity has not been released, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead, the station's report states.
Toxicology Results and Booking Details
Mulet Sanchez was also taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital following the crash with a possible fractured jaw. Police reported that he smelled of alcohol at the scene, and a toxicology test conducted in May reportedly showed a blood alcohol content of 0.11% along with marijuana in his system, per the same account. Florida law sets 0.08% as the threshold for per se legal proof of impairment, meaning Mulet Sanchez's recorded BAC came in nearly 38% above the legal limit, according to Musca Law.
Proving impairment tied to marijuana carries its own legal hurdle, however. Under Florida law, prosecutors must show actual physical impairment of normal faculties when THC is involved, since the mere presence of the substance in someone's system does not trigger the same automatic legal presumption that alcohol does, according to Fallgatter & Catlin P.A.
Mulet Sanchez invoked his right to remain silent when he was taken into custody Monday, the report notes. He was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $20,000 bond and will be placed on house arrest if he posts it. Records reviewed in the report also show Mulet Sanchez was previously arrested in St. Lucie County in December 2019, according to St. Lucie County Sheriff records.
What Mulet Sanchez Could Face in Court
DUI manslaughter under Florida Statute § 316.193 is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, carrying a mandatory minimum of four years and a permanent driver's license revocation upon conviction, according to Online Sunshine. The separate vehicular homicide charge, under Florida Statute § 782.071, is also a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years, but requires prosecutors to prove reckless driving rather than intoxication; a defendant cannot be convicted of both charges for the same victim.
The four-year mandatory minimum is often just the floor. Under Florida's Criminal Punishment Code, DUI manslaughter is scored as a Level 8 offense that adds 120 mandatory victim injury points for a death, which typically pushes the minimum sentencing guideline up to between 10 and 12 years in state prison before any prior criminal record is factored in, according to Elsea Law Firm.
A Corridor With a Deadly History
West Flagler Street has seen other severe high-speed DUI cases. In a February 2022 crash along the same corridor near Southwest 48th Avenue, driver Erwin Rommel Recinos Zúñiga was charged with three counts of DUI manslaughter after traveling 126 mph, killing three people — a case Hoodline detailed in its report on his return from Honduras to face trial after being mistakenly deported.
The crash also lands amid sobering countywide numbers. Preliminary data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles shows Miami-Dade County recorded 55,530 traffic crashes and 271 traffic fatalities in 2025, averaging roughly 152 collisions per day, according to Englander Peebles. That marked a roughly 7.4% drop in total crashes from 2024, when the county recorded 59,994 crashes and 289 fatalities — accounting for nearly 16% of all motor vehicle collisions statewide, according to Elstein Legal.
