MIAMI — The Miami Gardens man named by state troopers as the cause of Saturday’s Palmetto Expressway crash that killed five people hasn’t had a driver’s license since a 2014 ticket for driving 109 mph, online court records say.
That ticket in Collier County wouldn’t be the last traffic violation conviction for Maiky Simeon, 30, but it’s the one that caused the license suspension that doesn’t appear to have been lifted. Simeon also still owes $1,070.38 in traffic fines to Miami-Dade and Collier counties.
So, Simeon shouldn’t have been driving anything Saturday around 4:30 a.m. when, the Florida Highway Patrol said, he was driving east in State Road 826’s westbound lanes just north of Miami Lakes.
A search of online court records and a database show that Simeon has been ticketed in nine traffic incidents since 2013, but been convicted in only four:
— April 29, 2014: North Miami police ticketed Simeon for cutting through private property to avoid stopping at a traffic signal. He paid a fine of $182.
— Aug. 24, 2014: FHP caught Simeon doing 109 mph in a 70 mph stretch of southbound Interstate 75 in Collier County around 2 a.m. Online records say Simeon paid $20 of the original $603 fine before his license was suspended first for not showing up for a Sept. 30, 2014, hearing, then on Dec. 30, 2014, for non-payment of the fine. He’s paid $25.27 of the $46 in suspension fees.
The online records say Simeon still owes $582.38. There’s no docket notation that the suspension ever was lifted.
— April 14, 2016: North Miami Beach police ticketed Simeon for running a red light. With late fees, he still owes $293.
— May 7, 2017: North Miami Beach police ticketed Simeon for failing to yield the right of way in an intersection with four-way stop signs. With late fees, he still owes $195.
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