A teenage driver in a New Year's Day 2021 DUI crash in Miami-Dade that left four people dead and two of his friends severely injured was given more than a dozen years in prison as part of a plea deal Thursday.
Alex Garcia, who was 16 when the crash happened, was charged with four counts of vehicular homicide, four counts of DUI manslaughter and two counts of DUI causing serious bodily injury.
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Garcia, now 18, was tried as an adult and found guilty of the six DUI-related charges, but prosecutors waived the vehicular homicide charges.
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The plea deal Garcia agreed upon includes 14 years in prison, followed by two years of house arrest and eight years of probation.
Garcia was behind the wheel of a Chevy Tahoe when he crashed into a Hyundai Elantra that day, killing all four people inside of a Hyundai.
They were identified as 21-year-old Yuhlia Gelats Barzaga, the driver; Christian Mohip, 22; Andres Zacarias, 21; and Jenser Salazar, 21.
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The two other 16-year-olds inside of the Chevy were transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
At an emotional sentencing hearing Thursday, the families of the victims confronted Garcia to share their pain.
"I would’ve never imagined that on December 31, 2020, I was receiving the last FaceTime call from my brother," said Ingrid Diaz, the sister of Zacarias. "It hurts like crazy, not having him around."
Garcia sat silently watching and listening to the families. He chose not to speak.
"I hope one day you understand what you did that day, because since that day we’ve never been the same," one family member told him.
"He’s deeply remorseful and people who died in this accident were 20, 21 years old. They had their whole lives ahead of them, we’re not oblivious to that," defense attorney Brian Kirlew said.
Authorities said the Tahoe's data showed that Garcia was driving at about 111 mph right before the crash on a stretch of West Flagler where the posted speed limit is 40 mph.
The Hyundai was making a left turn when it was T-boned by the Tahoe, sending it nearly 300 feet from the site of the collision, the report said.
Garcia was under the influence of alcohol and marijuana when the crash occurred, authorities said.
The lead investigator of the case, Florida Highway Patrol CPL. Christine Gracie, also spoke Thursday about how horrific the crash scene was.
"Yuhlia’s body was left pinned under the passenger side of the vehicle. Andres suffered multiple broken bones in his entire left side of his body and both of his legs. Jenser had glass in his head and his face from the driver side of the vehicle," Gracie said as she held up photos of the crash wreckage. "This is what you did, you, understand? This is what you did, this is what he did, you don’t deserve the right to call this tragedy an accident."
Records showed Garcia has a learner's permit. Garcia's mother admitted to the trooper investigating the case that she had given her son the keys to her Chevy Tahoe, but said it was only so he could sit inside and listen to music.
"We were all given a life sentence, a life sentence to life without our loved ones, to life without my brother, to life without a son, to life without an uncle, but you, you're still one because your sentence of 14 years and whatever else they added, doesn’t compare to our sentence," Diaz said.
Aside from his sentence, Garcia will also have to donate $100 every year of his supervision to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund.
