Driver Pleads Guilty After Deadly Selmon Expressway Crash

A driver has pleaded guilty after being involved in a Deadly Selmon Expressway Crash, which led to the death of a family of three in August 2017. Prosecutors say that the driver, Amber Perera, was under the influence of drugs and alcohol when the crash took place.

Perera crashed into the rear end of a vehicle on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, leading to a dangerous, fiery multi-vehicle crash that caused the death of a couple from Tampa and their eight-year-old daughter.

Two days before the case was due to go to court, Perera, aged 31, pled guilty to nine charges, including three counts of DUI manslaughter and one charge for leaving the scene of a death.  The Tampa Bay Times reports that the charges, combined, carry a maximum sentence of 91.5 years in prison. A hearing for sentencing has been scheduled for October 18th.

Perera was driving east on the expressway, in a Kia Optima, when she collided with the family’s Hyundai, which was also heading east, near the West Euclid Avenue exit. According to data taken from the Kia, five seconds before the crash Perera was driving at 121 MPH. Witnesses say that they did not see the Kia brake before the crash occurred.

The impact from the crash sent the Hyundai over the grassy median and into the path of westbound traffic, where it collided with an Infiniti and a Jeep. The Hyundai then caught fire, killing those on board. Perera attempted to hide the blood samples that the hospital took from her upon admission. Further blood samples were taken five hours later, and Perara was still over the blood alcohol limit at that time, as well as having clinically significant doses of marijuana compounds in her blood. Court records say that the marijuana in her blood would have been enough to affect her brain.

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