Driver charged in fatal DUI crash, cops say

HOLLYWOOD Avelino Clemen Fonseca was drinking rum and visited a Hollywood bar before driving at speeds approaching 100 mph and crashing his red Mazda3 into a building at Young Circle in Hollywood, police said.

Killed in the early morning crash at 1735 E. Young Circle on Oct. 8 was Fonseca’s rear passenger, Jayson Senesca, 25.

Davie Police took Fonseca into custody Wednesday. The Broward state attorney’s office has charged him with vehicular homicide, among other offenses.

The Mazda was traveling at 98 mph a short time before hitting the building, an arrest report said. The incident began about 10:30 p.m. Oct. 7. That’s when police say video recorded Fonseca as he took a bottle from the trunk of his car and drank from it while parked at Capone’s Flicker Lite, at 1014 N. Ocean Drive in Hollywood.

Fonseca and Senesca met friends inside the restaurant, and then a group returned to the Mazda and passed around the bottle that a witness said held rum, a police report said.

At 2 a.m., Fonseca, Senesca and Richard Miller, 22, of Hollywood, left the restaurant in the Mazda and traveled south on North Ocean Drive, toward Hollywood Boulevard.

The Mazda next traveled west along the boulevard. Miller was in the front seat.

Miller told police Fonseca had driven along the stretch of road many times before, and that he yelled and pleaded with Fonseca several times to slow down, police said.

Miller told police he thought about jumping out of the moving car because it was going so fast, the arrest report said.

The boulevard at North 17th Avenue is marked with reflective arrows and signs, flashing lights and speed indicators, the report said.

While entering the curve that is designed to be driven at 15 mph, the Mazda struck a curb, was airborne and moving at about 85 mph just before it slammed into the building, police said.

The impact was so violent that it tore Senesca’s seat belt and he was tossed about the Mazda’s back seat, police said.

Miller was able to walk away from the smoky wreck, but required emergency surgery, a police report said.

Fonseca, 24, of Davie, was unconscious after the crash and was also taken to a hospital. He had a blood alcohol content higher than the state legal limit of .08 percent, according to police.

On July 9, the state attorney’s office filed 17 charges against Fonseca that include DUI manslaughter; vehicular homicide; DUI serious bodily injury; reckless driving and possession of drug paraphernalia.

A small smoking bowl that tested positive for cannabis was found on the floorboard of the driver’s seat, police said.

During a court hearing Thursday, Fonseca told Broward County Judge Ernest Kollra Jr. that he had a private attorney who was not present in court. Kollra ordered Fonseca held without bond until he goes before his trial judge in a hearing scheduled for Friday.