n 18-year-old driver who ran away from a fatal crash on Alligator Alley does not have a valid license and was caught swapping seats with a passenger when he was pulled over last year, records show.
No one has yet been charged in relation to Wednesday’s early morning crash that flipped an SUV carrying seven people and killed Eymi Aguilera-Torres, a 9-year-old girl from Fort Lauderdale.
Carlos Jeovany Gutierrez, of Miami, was one of two drivers who may have caused the crash, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
“We don’t know if it’s drag racing or not. Obviously, we’re looking to see if speed was a factor,” said Lt. Al Feola, an FHP spokesman.
Gutierrez was driving a 2013 Infiniti, and Jeraisy Perez, 17, of North Miami, was driving a Nissan when the crash happened about 3:30 a.m. near Mile Marker 43 on westbound Interstate 75, according to the FHP.
Both drivers ran away from the scene, troopers say.
Gutierrez was arrested twice last year, records show.
When he was pulled over for failing to make a complete stop on Nov. 21 in Collier County, an approaching deputy saw Gutierrez swap seats with a woman passenger, a police report said.
Gutierrez confessed that “he got nervous” because he did not have a valid driver’s license, the report said.
The car Gutierrez was driving during that traffic stop was a 2013 Infiniti registered to his sister — the same make and year of the car he was driving Wednesday, records show.
The deputy found 4.1 grams of marijuana in the vehicle, which the woman claimed was hers, the report said.
Gutierrez, who told the deputy he had been working in Naples for about a month doing construction, was cited and eventually pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of driving without a valid driver’s license, records show.
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