A “drunk” man was seen driving along a Miami Beach boardwalk Sunday morning before veering off the sidewalk and plunging his car into the ocean.
Yandeivy Chávez Domínguez, 22, allegedly mistook the popular boardwalk for a road and waded into the water early in the morning.
Dominguez reportedly sped down the South Pointe Park Marina boardwalk and then drove over a concrete barrier into the Atlantic Ocean.
By 7 a.m., a crowd of bewildered onlookers had gathered at the scene, looking out toward the ocean, where the battered sedan was visible beneath the green water. The trunk of the sedan was open and above the water.
Andrés Asión, a local resident, posted a video of the aftermath of the accident on his Facebook page.
Dominguez drove his car down the Miami Beach boardwalk at ‘high speed’ before crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.
The car was still visible beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
Dominguez was eventually arrested by police and is now being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where his bail was set at $10,000.
In the video, Asion pointed to an apartment complex over his shoulder and said, “So I was in my apartment right up there and I heard a speeding car hit something.”
Yandeivy Chávez Domínguez, 22, apparently mistook the popular boardwalk for a highway
He continued: ‘I couldn’t find where it was, and then I looked down at the water and realized it had fallen into the water. This guy was drunk. He had just come from a bar.
Behind Asion, Dominguez could be seen sitting on the ground, surrounded by a crowd of police officers. The alleged drunken diver hugged his knees and was dripping with water.
“He thought it was a road,” Asion said, pointing toward the boardwalk with his thumb. Asion later said Dominguez was “dragging ass down the marina boardwalk and flew over the barrier here and landed in the water.” Crazy.’
Later in the video, Asion walked to the water’s edge and looked over the boardwalk at the car.
Pieces of the crashed vehicle appeared to float on the surface. Water bubbled around the sunken car.
The barrier was covered in dirt where Dominguez’s car had passed it.
A video taken by local resident Andrés Asión captured the dramatic aftermath of Domínguez’s accident.
Police officers administered a field sobriety test to Dominguez, which the drunk driver failed to quickly pass.
In the background of the video, police could be heard asking worriedly if there was anyone else in the car.
‘Is there anyone else there?’ a worried officer shouted. The authorities leaned over the platform and looked at the car.
Dominguez, who was standing between two officers, raised his hands in a pose that suggested annoyance.
An outraged resident harangued Dominguez, who was now once again sitting on the ground, his body dripping water onto the concrete.
‘You should be arrested, boy. Do you hear me, boy? You are crazy.
Domínguez raised his hands and looked at the man. Police asked the resident to leave. “I have said my word,” the man said and walked away.
The video then showed two women who were apparently on the boardwalk at the time of the accident. They seemed surprised by what they had witnessed and the officer asked them to tell what they had seen.
“We were sitting here with my father,” one woman said and pointed to the other, who was holding an urn in her arms.
Emergency rescue officials responded to the scene and a rescuer went underwater to confirm there was no other person in the sunken car.
Dominguez looked equal parts helpless and defiant as he raised his hands behind the police officers.
They said the car was “approaching them” and moving “at a very, very high speed.”
The video showed Domínguez, sitting on a piece of wet concrete, with his forehead in his hand. A gold chain hung around his neck and a gold bracelet hung around his wrist.
Asion then returned to filming the ocean, through which a man was swimming towards the sunken vehicle.
“Firefighters go into the water to clean the vehicle and make sure no one else is in it,” Asion said.
The rescuer went underwater and examined the car. Other emergency officials leaned expectantly on the boardwalk. He looked inside the trunk and then swam back to the boardwalk.
“No one else was found in the vehicle and the vehicle was removed,” Asion said.
Dominguez was allegedly asked to stand on one leg as part of his field sobriety test, which he did not do.
Officers spoke with two bystanders, who were standing on the boardwalk with an urn containing their father’s ashes when Dominguez drove his car into the Atlantic.
The video then showed Dominguez standing in front of three police officers. An officer moves a pen in circular motions in front of the driver’s eyes.
“This is the driver who is given the field sobriety test,” Asion narrated in the background. For the next part of the field sobriety test, it appeared that Dominguez was asked to stand on one foot, something he struggled to do.
Dominguez repeatedly tried to stand on one leg, but kept losing his balance and staggering on the ground.
In the end, the police handcuffed the man and pulled him out of the water.
According to an arrest report, Dominguez reeked of alcohol after the accident. He now faces a charge of driving under the influence. Dominguez is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. His bail has been set at $10,000.