Driver faces charges in 2018 wrong-way, fatal crash

FORT LAUDERDALE– More than 16 months after a deadly highspeed head-on collision, a 39-year-old Tamarac man is facing charges that include DUI manslaughter, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.

Carlos A. Varas was driving a 2013 Chrysler Town and Country van in the wrong direction when the crash happened about 4 a.m. July 25, 2018, in the 3600 block of South Federal Highway near Fort Lauderdale Hollywood

International Airport, an arrest report said.

Varas was driving northbound in the highway’s southbound lanes — going 76 mph in a 45 mph zone — when he struck a silver 2016 Honda Civic which then hit a guardrail, according to investigators.

Adam Saad Abdou-essa, 21, who family members said aspired to be a doctor, was critically injured in the collision and died in the hospital six days later.

Abdou-essa was the designated driver for passenger Daena Tran Lopez, who was also critically injured, the report stated.

Varas was also treated at the hospital and medical tests revealed his blood alcohol concentration was above the state’s legal limit of .08 grams per deciliter, the arrest report said.

Detectives said they determined he had been drinking alcohol at several restaurants and bars before the collision.

Besides DUI manslaughter, Varas is charged with vehicular homicide, DUI causing serious bodily injury, DUI causing damage to property and reckless driving, records show.

At his first court appearance Friday, Varas was ordered held without bond in the Broward County Jail.