She ran a red light and killed a boy in Sunny Isles Beach; criminal charges aren’t certain
Samentha Toussaint ran a red light when she killed 11-year-old Anthony Reznik as he skateboarded in a crosswalk. Legal experts say a criminal charge might tough under Florida law.
Over the past 15 years, Samentha Toussaint has been issued 27 traffic citations in South Florida on 14 separate dates. She’s had her license suspended multiple times for failing to pay fines.
Then, on Feb. 10, records show, she drove her Mercedes Benz east on a busy stretch of Sunny Isles Beach Boulevard near A1A. That’s when she ran a red light and struck 11-year-old Anthony Reznik as he rode his skateboard at a crosswalk.
Reznik, after lingering at the hospital for two weeks, was taken off life support last week, his organs donated to people in need of transplants. Now, Miami-Dade prosecutors, must decide whether Toussaint’s conduct that evening in Sunny Isles Beach rises to the level of a felony charge such as vehicular manslaughter.
If Florida legal precedent is any indication, it will be a tough criminal case to make, experts say — running a red light alone isn’t usually enough to make an accident criminal. But the boy’s family says it is hoping prosecutors can make a case.
“This person has to realize that she needs to be responsible for what’s shes doing,” said Anthony’s mother, Inna Trakhtenburg.
“You can’t drive a car and not recognize it’s a lethal weapon. She’s operating a lethal weapon in a place where there are kids,” said the family’s lawyer, Judd Rosen. “There has to be accountability.”
Toussaint, 32, of Sunny Isles Beach, reached by phone, hung up on a reporter on Thursday. It is unclear whether she has retained an attorney.
“Since prosecutors from the State Attorney’s Office review every traffic related fatality for potential criminal conduct, we understand the pain each family feels when faced with a tragedy like this,” said Ed Griffith, a
Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office spokesman. “That pain is always magnified when the victim is a child. All aspects of this present, ongoing investigation will continue to get the highest level of prosecutorial attention.”
Anthony lived in Sunny Isles Beach, the seaside resort town in Northeast Miami-Dade, with his parents and two siblings. He enjoyed soccer, martial arts and chess, said his father, Mark Reznik.
He was a sixth grader at Norman S. Edelcup Sunny Isles Beach K-8.
The crash happened on an extremely busy stretch of 163rd Street in a small town plagued by traffic crashes, so much so that Sunny Isles Beach police recently partnered with the University of North Florida to study pedestrian and cyclist safety. The accident has spurred police to step up traffic enforcement in the area.
City leaders, as well as State Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, have since asked the Florida Department of Transportation to examine pedestrian safety on the boulevard, also known as State Road 826.
“This is the worst thing that has happened there,” said City Manager Chris Russo, saying there has been a few minor incidents in the past. “We are hoping they can take a closer look.”
Pizzo and other leaders will be among speakers Sunday at memorial in Sunny Isles Beach dubbed Stand For Traffic and Pedestrian Safety.
For now, records show, Toussaint has not been issued a traffic citation, although she could be cited for careless driving.
What will it take for her to face a charge of vehicular manslaughter or vehicular homicide? Usually, ordinary speeding or running a red light isn’t enough, legal experts say.
“Running a red light is never enough to charge a criminal offense, but if you add other factors like texting or swerving or drag racing, it might be enough,” said veteran Miami criminal defense lawyer Michael Catalano, who specializes in traffic cases. “These cases are always very fact specific. It has to be conduct so bad that everyone would know this behavior would kill someone.”
That was made clear in 2014, when a Miami appeals court tossed the vehicular homicide charge against a man who was driving 83.9 miles an hour during daylight on a rural road through the Everglades.
The speeding alone did not amount to the proper “level of recklessness,” the judges ruled.
The appeals court found that although Luzardo was speeding, there were no “aggravating factors.”
“The accident in our case did not occur in a residential road congested with children, there was no ‘Slow — Tourist Attraction’ sign on the road where Luzardo was traveling. ... Luzardo did attempt to avoid the collision,” the court said.
The Miami-Dade police traffic homicide investigation will have to determine what, if any, “aggravating” factors existed in the Toussaint case.
A Sunny Isles police officer said her condition at the time of the crash was “apparently normal” and the only contributing actions were running the red light. No alcohol or drug use was suspected, the report said.
The reports notes that it was unknown if Toussaint was distracted at the time.
Rosen, the family’s lawyers, said there may be something else.
“Speed, running the red — and witness say, there was dancing in the car,” Rosen said.
Her traffic history won’t play any role in a filing decision, but she certainly does not have a clean record.
Most recently, in November 2019, she was cited in North Miami for driving without insurance, no registration and for driving unknowingly with a suspended license. The Miami-Dade court record shows her license is suspended because she never paid fines associated with the citation, although state records show her license is valid.
She has not been convicted of all her citations either. In 2018, she was cited for careless driving in Miami-Dade, but the case was dismissed after a civilian witness failed to show up for court.
In the summer of 2017, she pleaded guilty in Broward County to a violation of “following too closely,” a citation given after she rear ended another car in Pembroke Pines. But because it was counted as a “withhold of adjudication,” so it did not count against her driving record.
Toussaint failed to pay $140 in court fees, and her license was suspended briefly until she paid the money, and late fees.
David Ovalle: 305-376-3379, @davidovalle305