Miami Beach man had ‘about 12 drinks’ before crashing Benz, killing passenger, cops say

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Miami Beach police arrested a man on a DUI manslaughter charge Monday after they said he drove at nearly three times the legal limit when he crashed his Mercedes-Benz SUV into a palm tree in mid-July, killing his passenger.

According to an arrest report, the crash happened just before 3 a.m. on July 10 at the curve of West 63rd Street and Alton Road.

Police said North Beach resident Hakeem Jerrod Smith, 27, was driving a black Mercedes-Benz GLE350 above the 20 mph limit when he failed to negotiate the curve, jumped the curb and slammed into the palm tree.

Medics took his passenger, identified by police as Tatiana T. Wolfe, to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center where doctors later pronounced her dead.

Police said medics took Smith to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he made comments to staff that he had been drinking.

The report states that blood samples taken roughly two and three hours after the crash revealed Smith had blood-alcohol content levels of .232% and .226%, respectively.

An investigation revealed that Smith and Wolfe were at two bars in the Lincoln Road area prior to the crash, the report states; police wrote that Smith “had about twelve (12) drinks containing alcohol between the hours of 10:54 p.m. and 2:35 a.m.

In an interview, police said Smith made an admission to officers, which was redacted from the report. He said that he didn’t know how the crash happened and said he has driven in the area for years and was “familiar” wth the curve, according to the report.

Police said Smith surrendered Monday.

Jail records show he was held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $10,000 bond with a pending magistrate hold as of late Tuesday morning.