Driver says he swerved to avoid traffic before crash
He told investigators that the gas pedal on his truck was stuck.
DELRAY BEACH — A 21-year-old man involved in the April 28 vehicle crash that killed four people in Delray Beach told investigators that he swerved to avoid traffic before hitting their minivan, according to a preliminary crash report made public Monday.
Paul Streater of Delray Beach also told investigators the gas pedal to his 2010 Chevy Silverado had become stuck moments before he began trying to dodge cars on Federal Highway near the crash site south of Linton Boulevard.
The wreck killed Jorge Claudio Raschiotto, 50, of Argentina, his sister, Veronica Raschiotto, 42, of Mexico; and her two children, Diego Martinez Raschiotto, 8, and Mia Martinez Raschiotto, 6.
A newspaper in Argentina said they were in South Florida to visit family.
Delray Beach police traffic homicide investigators returned to the crash site near South Federal Highway and Lamat Avenue early Sunday to re-create the wreck scene.
A police spokeswoman said last week that investigators are looking into whether mechanical failure was a factor in the crash, adding that it could take months before a fifinal determination regarding the cause of the crash is made.
Police have stressed that the investigation remains active and that arrests, if any are made, would not come until the investigation has been completed.
Witnesses told police that S t r e a t e r ’s S i l ve r a d o was speeding south on Federal and appeared to be weaving in and out of traffiffic, according to the crash report. They e s t i mated t h e t r u c k was going about 100 mph when it rear-ended the minivan as it waited to turn east into the Tropic Isle community along Lamat.
The truck and the minivan crossed into the northbound lanes and struck a Buick Encore. Two occupants of the Buick, a mother and son from Boca Raton, sustained minor injuries, police said. They declined to comment when reached by The Post last week.
The crash report notes that “there was enough force for the (pickup) and the (minivan) to continue traveling across the northbound lanes for approximately 250 feet.”
All of the vehicles came to a stop near a ditch on the 2800 block of Federal, south of Lamat.
S t r e a t e r ’ s p a s s e n g e r, 25-year-old Tyler Fowler of Delray Beach, said on Face-
A7
book last week that the vehicle’s gas pedal “was stuck wide open. It all happened so fast.”
Streater remained at the scene and cooperated with p o l i c e i nve s t i g a t o r s . He allowed police investigators to draw his blood for toxicology analysis.
Streater’s attorney, Samuel Halpern, told The Palm Beach Post last week that his client was not drinking and was not on drugs at the time of the crash.
Jorge Claudio Raschiotto taught at the National University of Lomas de Zamora, a public university in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the university disclosed following the fatal wreck.
Veronica Raschiotto’s husband, Gilberto Martinez, is expected to appear at a news conference today to discuss the crash that killed his wife and two children.