Rogier Silva Mendez told the Florida Highway Patrol that he and group of friends intended to travel to a home in Deerfield Beach after visiting a bar in Miami.
Instead, Silva Mendez ended up getting onto the wrong highway, driving to the wrong county and turning in the wrong direction in the moments before a November 2023 crash that killed an unidentified passenger in his pickup, authorities said in arresting him this month on criminal charges.
Silva Mendez, 25, of Pompano Beach was taken in custody Wednesday, Feb. 25, on one count each for DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide. Circuit Judge Donald Hafele set Silva Mendez’s bond at $200,000 and ordered that he be placed on in-house arrest upon his release from the county jail. He remained in custody as Friday, Feb. 27, jail records showed…