University of Miami football player Adarius Hayes has been arrested and charged in connection with a car crash in Florida that killed three people, including two kids, police said.
The 20-year-old linebacker, who also boasts more than 130,000 followers on Instagram, surrendered to authorities at the Largo Police Department on Friday morning, just days before Miami is scheduled to kickoff its 2025 season against Notre Dame.
Hayes was hit with three counts of vehicular homicide and one count of reckless driving with serious bodily injury following an investigation into the deadly crash, which occurred in Haye’s hometown of Largo on May 10.
Police said the footballer was traveling at 78 mph in a 40 mph zone and “maneuvering aggressively through traffic” shortly before his Dodge Durango collided with a Kia Soul. Hayes had been driving south on Ridge Road when he struck the Kia as it was “lawfully executing a left-hand turn” while traveling north.
Just seconds prior, Hayes “made a rapid and dangerous maneuver, changing lanes from the curb lane to the median lane, crossing three lanes of traffic while overtaking other vehicles,” the Largo Police Department said in a press release. “Moments later, Hayes abruptly reentered the curb lane, again crossing all three lanes without signaling.”
Two children — Charlie Solomon Rivera, 4, and Jabari Solomon, 10 — were ejected from the vehicle upon impact and pronounced dead on the scene. The driver of the Kia, 78-year-old Gail Price, was critically injured in the crash and rushed to a nearby hospital, where she too was pronounced dead.
The boys’ father, 58-year-old Herbert Rivera, who was in the front passenger seat, was also hospitalized in wake of the collision. He survived, but suffered a cracked sternum and a punctured lung, according to charging documents obtained by ABC News.
Hayes was booked on Friday into the Pinellas County Jail but released hours later on $350,000 bond, according to online records.
In a statement obtained by USA Today, the Miami Hurricanes said Hayes is “indefinitely suspended from all athletic-related activities per athletic department policy,” but declined further comment.
