Unlicensed driver charged in deadly head-on, three-vehicle crash

Passengers in a Buick LaSabre died after their car crashed head-on while traveling at more than 80 mph in a 40-mph zone, West Palm Beach police said.

Samuel Leon Newby, 28, was at the wheel of the 2001 Buick, according to the arrest report.

Donte Burney, 30, and Reontre’yn Pounds, 29, both died in the crash.

According to investigators, Newby was driving south in the 1700 block of N. Congress Avenue on July 17, at more than double the posted speed limit, when he lost control of the Buick. The car spun around at least twice on wet pavement, then collided head-on with two vans traveling north.

Several witnesses said the car was speeding on the curved road. Evidence recovered from the car’s data recorder showed it was going 83 mph and accelerating moments before impact, the report stated.

Both Newby and Headly Anderson, the driver of one of the vans, were injured in the crash. Trapped in the twisted wreckage of their respective vehicles, they had to be extricated by first responders. Both were treated at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach.

Earl Joiner, the driver of the other van, was unhurt, police said.

A records check also showed Newby did not have a Florida driver’s license, and his state identity card had expired in 2014.

Newby, who was arrested Tuesday, is facing two charges each of vehicular homicide, driving without a license and reckless driving. He was released from the Palm Beach County Jail Thursday morning on bonds totaling $40,000, records show.

Newby