A 16-year-old boy who died in a chain-reaction, four-car crash in Pompano Beach this summer, along with his 17-year-old St. Thomas Aquinas High School schoolmate, was speeding 45 mph over the limit when he crashed, according to an investigation concluded last month.
Jayden Vico was driving a 2019 Mercedes Benz CLA 250 in the area of East Copans Road and Leisure Boulevard about 8 p.m. on June 20 with Richard Joseph Grable, 17, and three other teens as his passengers, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said in a news release at the time of the crash.
First, the Mercedes collided with a 2021 Toyota Sienna that was making a left turn, then rolled over onto its roof while sliding across the road into oncoming traffic, the Sheriff’s Office said previously. That caused the Mercedes to then collide with a 2015 Lexus RX 350, and debris from the Mercedes sliding by flung into a 2021 Toyota RAV4.
Jayden was pronounced dead at a hospital that night while Richard died three days later, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The teens who survived faced serious injuries, according to GoFundMe online fundraisers. They were students at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, according to social media posts from the school, which held a prayer vigil on campus after the crash.
Investigators determined the Mercedes and the Sienna collided in a “sidesweep” motion, and if the Mercedes was traveling at the 35 mph speed limit, the Sienna would have been able to complete the turn before the Mercedes approached, according to the Traffic Homicide Investigations report released Tuesday.
The investigation found the teen driver of the Mercedes drove between 68 mph and 85 mph before the crash, based on surveillance video in the area, according to the report.
The Sheriff’s Office did not find any evidence that any of the drivers involved were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or that any of the cars experienced a mechanical issue, according to the report.
