There are traffic accidents, and then there are traffic accidents that make you do a double take. A crash that unfolded late Tuesday afternoon in Miami’s Brownsville neighborhood falls squarely in the second category. A dirt bike rider lost control of his machine and plowed directly into a parked hearse sitting outside a funeral home, and the collision was violent enough to shatter the driver’s side window of the Cadillac on impact. It was the kind of scene that stops bystanders cold.
The wreck occurred at around 3:15 p.m. at Angels of Paradise Mortuary, located at 2796 NW 46th Street in the unincorporated Brownsville area. Aerial footage from Local 10’s Sky 10 helicopter showed the crumpled brown dirt bike lying on the ground, engine long silent, with the hearse’s shattered glass scattered across the pavement nearby. The intersection was shut down for several hours as investigators worked the scene.
Medics rushed the dirt bike rider to Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition. The Ryder Trauma Center, one of the busiest and most capable trauma units in the region, received him as first responders scrambled to stabilize what was clearly a severe crash. Despite those efforts, the outcome was not what anyone hoped for. Officials with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office confirmed the following morning that the man had died from his injuries. His identity had not yet been publicly released as of the time of reporting…