What to Know
- One person died after an SUV traveling northbound on the southbound lanes of I-95 in Miami collided into five cars
- All southbound lanes of I-95 near NW 103rd Street were shut down Thursday night
A man possibly on drugs stabbed a woman before he caused a wrong-way crash on Interstate 95 in Miami-Dade Thursday night that killed a student from Germany, authorities said.
The crash happened shortly before 8 p.m. when a Kia SUV that was traveling northbound in the southbound express lanes collided head-on with multiple vehicles, killing one person, Florida Highway Patrol officials said.
"Several of our troopers that were in the area observed the vehicle driving at a high rate of speed in a reckless manner," said Lt. Alex Camacho.
Mathias Akwa, 24, was identified as the man killed in the crash. He was a German national living in Miami for a school internship.
"We all feared it was him, but you never expect for that to happen," said Andreina Calleja, Akwa's girlfriend.
Akwa was returning from Destin after a Fourth of July celebration and was on his way to return a rental car. He was just eight miles from where his girlfriend was supposed to pick him up.
"The last conversation was very brief," Calleja said. "It was like, 'Hey I'm going back to the rental place. Can you pick me up?'...I was like, 'Ok, see you there."
The wrong-way driver, identified by the FHP as 27-year-old William Ronald Ferguson, was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Local
According to an arrest report, Ferguson had stabbed his girlfriend in Miami shortly before the crash. The report said Ferguson was possibly on drugs and acting "paranoid," telling his girlfriend that "people were watching him," the report said. He fled the scene after the stabbing, the report said.
The woman, who was stabbed in the neck and arm, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center for treatment, the report said.
Four cars were involved in the crash but there were no other injuries. Traffic was backed up for hours on the southbound I-95 near NW 103rd Street.
