Miami DUI Attorney Blog

Homeland Security officials accused Carlos Bertonatti, a Miami musician facing charges for running over a cyclist last month, of misleading them, which makes him a flight risk according to Miami-Dade prosecutors.  Prosecutors have said that Bertonatti, who shares the same name with his father, would use his father's name to slip out of the country.  Bertonatti surrendered his Venezuelan passport at his bail hearing, but prosecutors argued that he is hiding an Argentinian passport.  Based on this argument, the judge ordered Bertonatti to be taken back into custody and held until his DUI-manslaughter trial starts in May.

Bertonatti was charged last month with vehicular homicide after he crashed into cyclist, Christopher Le Canne, and sped away with Le Canne's bike still wedged under his front fender while Le Canne lay bleeding to death.  Bertonatti sped away and did not stop even when an officer near the scene tried to stop him, said Det. Rebecca Perez, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department.

At the time of the crash, Le Canne was proceeding east on his bike in the bike lane on Bear Cut Bridge on the Rickenbacker Causeway before Key Biscayne.  Bertonatti was also proceeding east as well as he veered into the bike lane and struck Le Canne.  Bertonatti sped away as a Key Biscayne officer tried to stop Bertonatti just after he crossed the bridge.  He did not stop until he reached the 600 block of Grapetree Drive, near his upscale apartment.  He was taken into custody at that time.  Authorities believe that Bertonatti was both speeding and under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.

Another cyclist that witnessed the crash said, "I can't fathom how someone can hit another human being and just take off and leave the person on the side of the road like he had hit a dog."