Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘I thought it was over,’ dad says after crash
Man accused in accident faces 15 criminal charges
Terrence and Kristal Embery and their three young children were heading home with a take-out cheese steak dinner one recent Friday night when what felt like a bomb exploded on the hood of their car.
“I thought it was over for me and my family,” said Terrence Embery, 27. “Wow. I thought, ‘I’m not going to get out of this alive.’ ”
The bomb turned out to be another car that smashed into a tree, uprooting it from the ground, and then went airborne when it crossed the median and plowed into the Emberys’ Hyundai Elantra.
The car that went flying hit the Hyundai with such force that it split in half, investigators said.
The Emberys—all of them – did get out alive.
But that June 16 collision left the Lauderhill family reeling from severe physical injuries, months of surgeries and rehabilitation and hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills.
“It’s a life-changer,” said Embery. “But we just have to push forward. We’re thankful to be here.”
On Wednesday, the man Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies say caused the June 16 crash, Oniel D. Constantine, 46, of Coral Springs, made his first appearance in court to face 15 criminal charges, including DUI and driving without a license.
The crash took place about 9:30 p.m. in the 4600 block of Rock Island Road in Tamarac, according to the Broward Sheriff ’s Office.
Witnesses told investigators they saw a 2004 Honda Accord traveling north at a high
rate of speed on rain-slicked Rock Island Road.
The Honda “left the roadway …drove onto the center median just as the road starts to curve…struck a tree in the middle of the median, causing the tree to split in half and uprooted the tree trunk from the ground,” investigators said.
“[The Honda] entered the southbound lane of travel onto the hood of [the Hyundai], which was traveling in the far left lane.
“Once [the Honda] made contact with [the Hyundai], the rear half of [the Honda] separated and came to final rest on the west side of a guardrail located on the west side of the roadway,” the affidavit said. “The front half of [the Honda] came to final rest in the right travel lane, approximately 100 feet north of where the point of impact occurred between the two vehicles.”
Embery said he remembers hearing his children screaming as he fought to get out of the smoking car. When he managed to open the driver’s side door, “my legs buckled and I fell to the ground,” he said.
He sustained two fractured legs that are now held together with metal rods.
Kristal Embrey, 31, was taken to Broward Health Medical Center with a lacerated liver and fractures to her left arm, ankle and pelvis. She has a metal rod in her arm and metal plates in her ankle and hip.
The couple’s daughter Ta’Zaria, then nearly 3, had a broken femur and a brain bleed. She was in a body cast for several weeks.
Terrence Embery Jr., then 3 months old, was pulled from the car with an abrasion to his head.
Daughter Taniyah, 6, escaped serious injury, but remained with the family in the hospital and under observation for a week, the family said.
“The doctors told us that most people who have accidents like this end up dead,” said Kristal Embery, 31, who uses a wheelchair or a walker to get around and has been unable to return to her job at a day care center.
“This has messed us up big time,” said Embery, who has gone back to work as a debt collector despite the pain in his legs that makes it difficult to walk. He said he has some medical insurance, but not enough to cover the mounting bills.
Constantine told paramedics at the scene of the crash that he had two beers to drink. An unopened bottle of beer was found in the car.
His blood, drawn at Broward Health Medical Center, showed an alcohol content of .117, above the legal limit of .08.
In court Wednesday, Broward Judge Ellen Feld said, “The PC [probable cause affidavit] was pretty horrific to read.”
Assistant state attorney Eric Linder agreed. “The description of this accident is horrific,” he said.
Noting that Constantine’s drivers license was suspended, Linder said, “If he had followed the law this never would have happened. He wouldn’t have been in the car.”
Public defender Hector Romero argued for a lower bond, telling the court that Constantine has lived in South Florida for seven years, makes $16 an hour working construction, and with his girlfriend leases an apartment in Coral Springs.
The judge set bond at $237,500. Constantine remained in jail Friday.
Despite their injuries, the Emberys have not lost faith in the future. Both are active in Lauderhill’s Kingdom Central International Fellowship, where Terrence Embery’s mother, Desiree Lacey, is pastor. Terrence, a pianist, is minister of music; Kristal is a vocalist and a worship leader.
Of the man accused of causing the crash, Kristal Embery said, “We don’t wish anything bad on him. We all make mistakes.”
Said Terrence Embery: “He’s forgiven.”
Meanwhile, friends have set up a GoFundMe account to help the family pay medical bills.