Fatal crash shuts down Seven Mile Bridge in Keys. Driver arrested on DUI charges

The man police say caused a fatal crash while behind the wheel of a Maserati on the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys early Monday morning was arrested on a charge of negligent manslaughter and seven felony counts of driving drunk and causing serious bodily harm.

Mike Muthama, 43, listed as a truck driver from Orlando, was taken to Fishermen’s Community Hospital in Marathon, where he was immediately medically cleared, according to Joseph Mansfield, chief assistant state attorney in Monroe County.

Muthama’s blood-alcohol level was .17, more than twice the legal limit, Mansfield said.

Amparo Elena Huaman, a passenger in a Volkswagen Tiguan cops say Muthama hit with his Maserati, was pronounced dead at the scene. The 85-year-old Peru native lived in Miramar, her grandson said.

From the hospital, Muthama was arrested and booked into county jail on Plantation Key on Monday morning. He was still locked up at 5 p.m. without any bond information listed, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office website.

It was unclear Monday afternoon whether he had legal representation.

Muthama also faces one count each of DUI property damage and reckless driving causing damage to a person or property, according to the sheriff’s website.

He is due in court Aug. 8.

The crash happened just after midnight on the iconic span that connects the Middle and Lower Keys. The Florida Highway Patrol said in a press release issued later Monday morning that the driver of a 2015 Maserati Ghibli tried to pass a 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan as both cars headed north on the bridge.

The Maserati driver “failed” to pass the Volkswagen and ended up hitting the back of the car, causing it to end up in the southbound lane of the bridge, the FHP said.

Huaman died, and her 15-year-old granddaughter was flown to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. The other family members, the girl’s parents and her 25-year-old sister — the driver of the Volkswagen — were treated and released from Fishermen’s Hospital.

The FHP does not release names of car crash victims. Braulio Hashimoto, 27, confirmed Huaman is his grandmother, and the teen is his sister.

Hashimoto, who was two cars behind the Volkswagen in his Jeep Gladiator pickup truck when the crash happened, requested the Herald not list the names of his family other than Huaman, whom he called “the kindest person I ever met.”

Huaman had Alzheimer’s disease, but “she never forgot to be kind to others,” Hashimoto said. “She will live forever in our hearts.”

The Maserati kept driving north, hitting the concrete barrier on the side of the bridge several times before catching fire, according to the FHP. Hashimoto said he saw the car ignite.

“In a matter of a minute, two minutes tops, the car was completely in flames,” he said.

Maserati driver ‘relatively unscathed’ from crash

Muthama was driving the luxury sedan up the Keys on the Overseas Highway, the only highway that runs through the island chain to the mainland.

At the same time, so was the Hashimoto family. They were divided up into two vehicles — Hashimoto’s Jeep and his mother’s Volkswagen — and headed out of the Keys one right behind the other, Mansfield said.

“The Maserati was hauling up from Key West, weaving in and out of traffic,” Mansfield said. “He passes the Jeep and cuts in between the Jeep and the Volkswagen.”

Soon after, the Maserati hit the Volkswagen’s left back side “at a very high rate of speed,” Mansfield said.

Huaman was sitting in the middle backseat when it was hit. Mansfield said she must have been killed on impact. Hashimoto got to the car less than a minute after the crash and immediately checked on his grandmother, but she was already gone.

“The impact was so bad that her body literally slipped out from the seat belt, and she ended up all the way in the trunk of the car. By the time I got there, I’m guessing it was 30 seconds after the actual accident, I tried taking her pulse, but there was no pulse already,” Hashimoto said.

His 15-year-old sister was sitting behind the driver’s seat, which took the brunt of the force from the collision with the Maserati. She suffered three broken ribs, stitches to her lips and has back and leg pain, Hashimoto said.

The Maserati burst into flames, but Muthama managed to escape.

“The next thing you know, the driver’s door opens and he gets out and walks away from it relatively unscathed,” Mansfield said..

“They took him right away [to Fisherman’s hospital] and cleared him,” Mansfield said, and then police took Muthama directly to the jail on Plantation Key.

Both southbound and northbound lanes of the bridge were shut down for about five hours because of the crash, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Hashimoto said the Muthama vehicle left Key West around the same time, so the cars were near each other for the entire trip. Hashimoto said that he could tell by the way the Maserati weaved along U.S. 1, the driver was likely drunk or high.

“And, look, he was arrested at the end of the night, so that’s telling you something,” he said.

A lengthy, somber wait

The lengthy bridge shutdown left traffic at a standstill for about five hours as police investigated the fatal crash. A line of cars were backed up in the southbound lane headed to Key West.

Long-term residents and Keys natives have been through these traffic closures. A wait lasting hours often means tragedy has struck other travelers sharing the same highway.

“Usually, it’s a couple of hours,” said Jill Cranney-Black, who has lived in the Keys since 1988, when she was in second grade. “We got there around 12:20 a.m. We started moving at 5:10 a.m. In all my years, I’ve never seen the bridge shut down that long.”

She wasn’t complaining. She had water and snacks for her girls, and they were all safe.

At one point, they walked onto the nearby Old Seven Mile Bridge, a narrow two-lane span that today is a pedestrian and bike path.

The new wider and higher bridge replaced it in May 1982..

They couldn’t see much, but Cranney-Black saw one car on the present-day Seven Mile Bridge that had been covered by a sheet.

“I’m just glad we were safe,” she said. “My prayers go out to the family.”

‘I just want justice’

Hashimoto and his wife are looking forward to celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary next year. Whenever he’s envisioned that party, Huaman was there with them marking the occasion.

“My biggest dream was for her to be there,” he said. “Unfortunately, she won’t be able to make it.”

With his grandmother dead, and his sister still in the hospital, Hashimoto added, “I just want justice.”

Additionally, he hopes that the tragedy will serve as a preemptive lesson to those thinking about getting behind the wheel after they’ve consumed alcohol.

“I could tell this guy was intoxicated on either alcohol and drugs. I want the full weight of the law on him. And, I just want people to know that if you’re going to drink, you should not be driving. You just can’t,” he said.

Due to an incorrect spelling in the call history record report provided by Monroe County, the first name of the woman who died in the crash, Amparo Huaman, was misspelled in the original article. The story has been updated with the proper spelling of her name.