Florida Highway Patrol announced this week they've arrested the driver of vehicle who caused a crash on U.S. 17-92 just south of Osceola-Polk Line Road on Nov. 19 that led to the death of a 26-year-old woman and two other passengers.
Jens Anthony Ortuno Talavera, 26, from Nicaragua faces charges of DUI manslaughter, failure to register a motor vehicle, three counts of DUI with serious bodily injury to another and four counts of driving with license suspended causing death or serious injury.
According to the initial crash report, Talavera was driving a Chrysler Sebring north and tried to pass another vehicle near Sundown Drive in a ‘No Passing’ zone. It entered the southbound lane into the path of a Toyota Corolla driven by a 30-year-old Kissimmee man. The Sebring veered back into the northbound lane, but not before striking the Corolla. The 26-year-old Lakeland woman was pronounced deceased on scene. In the subsequent arrest affidavit, troopers noticed the smell of alcohol on site and numerous crushed beer cans. In that report, Talavera said he couldn't slow down to prevent hitting a slowing "red car" in front of him, swerved into the oncoming lane, then saw the oncoming Corolla and swerved again, and they collided.
The two drivers and two passengers in the Sebring were transported to HCA Florida Hospital Osceola with injuries.
While the initial report said Talavera, the driver, was from Lakeland, troopers interviewed him at the hospital the morning following the crash and learned he had never been issued U.S. identification but had a Nicaraguan ID. He had bought the Sebring for $1,000 in October from a man in Wisconsin and had never registered it in Florida.
"Talavera has no residency or ties to Florida and was living out of his vehicle," the FHP report stated. "His nearest family is located in New Jersey. He advised he entered the country via the Texas border. Based on these factors, he is a flight risk."
He also said that he'd drank beers at a friend's house in Haines City before the crash, and that he wasn't drinking the beers found at the scene but his passengers were. Hospital medical records showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .217, nearly three times the legal limit of .08.
Talavera reportedly went to the FHP Troop D station Monday in Orlando to pick up belongings in evidence from the crash, and was arrested and booked into the Osceola County Jail without incident. He remains held there on no bond.
