OKEECHOBEE — A 25-year-old Vero Beach woman faces a charge of DUI causing death after authorities say she was driving a utility terrain vehicle that overturned on a rural property, ejecting a passenger who later died.
Blanca Y. Ruiz Dominguez was arrested Saturday night at HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce after she was medically cleared, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. She was booked into the St. Lucie County Jail on Sunday.
Ruiz Dominguez, a native of Honduras, is charged with one count of DUI causing death to a human or unborn child and three counts of DUI damage to property or person. She is being held without bail on the death charge and on $30,000 bail on the other counts.
The crash occurred about 21021 NW 240th St. on property owned by the Coquina Water Control District in rural Okeechobee County on May 16. A trooper responding to the scene found a four-seater UTV, also known as a side-by-side, upright on a soft sand surface facing east, with debris scattered around it, blood visible on the driver-side door and both rear tires damaged.
Investigators located a bottle of Corona beer in the rear of the vehicle, along with crushed Modelo beer cans and blood on the sand.
A witness told troopers that he and a group including Ruiz Dominguez had been in Fort Pierce earlier that day before traveling to the Okeechobee location. The witness reported observing Ruiz Dominguez consume shots of Blue Label whiskey and beer. She was in the driver’s seat with three passengers aboard when the UTV accelerated rapidly east, kicking up sand before she executed a hard left turn that caused the vehicle to overturn.
One passenger — a 34-year-old woman from Port St. Lucie — was ejected and struck the sand surface. She was airlifted to HCA Lawnwood Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Two other passengers, a 33-year-old woman from Homestead and a 24-year-old woman from Vero Beach, sustained injuries.
A nurse informed a Fort Pierce police sergeant that Ruiz Dominguez had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.128%, exceeding Florida’s legal limit of 0.08%. A second passenger provided statements consistent with the witness account. The UTV sustained an estimated $5,000 in damage.
The incident is currently under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.
