Driver in fatal crash tested at triple the legal limit, cops say

A GMC Sierra pickup veered several times into oncoming traffic along a Hollywood street before hitting two cars and leaving a Hollywood grandmother dead after the crash, police say.

The pickup driver, Waymond Stewart, 48, of Miami, turned himself in to Broward County jail Tuesday to face DUI manslaughter charges. He is accused of having three times the legal blood alcohol limit, or .24, during the July 15 crash that happened around 10:10 p.m. along the Davie Road Extension near North 78th Avenue.

A man driving behind Stewart told investigators that “9 or 10” times before the crash he saw the Sierra drifting out of its lane and moving into oncoming traffic and that its turn signal was activated in the direction the pickup was driftwanted ing, according to an arrest report.

As the witness was calling police, the pickup struck a northbound Toyota Scion and then hit a Kia Forte, in which Maria T. Hormaeche Cadenas, 60, was a passenger.

Davie Fire Rescue took Hormaeche Cadenas to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood where she died, according to court documents.

Stewart fainted when being treated at the scene of the crash and again while giving consent to have his blood drawn, the reports said. A search of his pickup found five beer bottles and an empty case of Remy Martin cognac, according to police.

During a court hearing Wednesday, Stewart’s lawyer, Chad Mason, sought to have his client released on bond. But Broward prosecutors said Stewart was convicted of DUI in MiamiDade County in 1995 and him held in jail until trial.

“The concern here is not only that he has a prior, albeit it is fairly remote in time, 22 years ago, the allegations in this case is that he had three times the legal limit of blood alcohol limit,” Judge Daniel Kanner said while presiding at bond court.

Kanner ordered a hearing to be held in five days to determine whether Stewart may be released from jail before trial. In addition to DUI manslaughter, Stewart is also facing charges of DUI property damage and DUI serious bodily injury to another.

Hormaeche Cadenas was a mother of four children and a grandmother to five, according to an obituary.