Couple Killed While Helping Friend Push Car Off Road

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MIRAMAR (CBSMiami) - An act of kindness ended with two lives lost in Miramar early Monday morning.

Jonah Mosaphir, 19, and his girlfriend Gabrielle Camps, also 19, died while helping to push a disabled car on an unlit stretch of Pembroke Road, west of I-75.

Miramar police said the driver of an SUV, 23-year-old Asia Valentine, slammed into the back of the car killing Mosaphir and Camps and injuring the disabled vehicle's owner 19-year-old Giovanni Martinez.

Raul Molina, a family friend of Mosaphir, said his 18-year-old son Justin was with Mosaphir and Camps when Martinez called and asked for help because his BMW had broken down

"I just want Jonah to be remembered as a very good kid. He had a heart of gold and that's the reason why he was there. He was helping somebody," Molina said.

A Good Samaritan, George Vasquez, driving by also stopped to help, according to police.

Investigators said the group of five people were pushing the BMW eastbound on Pembroke Road. There are no street lights and it was dark when the suv slammed into them from behind.

Valentine reportedly told police that she did not see the vehicle or any lights on.

Those who survived the crash have insisted that the vehicle they were pushing had the lights on.

The conflicting accounts may be due to the area where the teens were pushing the car. If the lights were on, they may have been blocking them with their bodies, according to police.

Camps' family in Southwest Miami-Dade said she was attending Miami Dade College and was exploring social work because of her giving nature. She graduated from Arts and Minds School in Coconut Grove in 2014. They said the couple had been dating a year and were very close.

Neither Molina nor Vasquez, the other two who were helping to push the disabled car, were hurt.
Molina's father says, "It was a mixture of feelings that he was OK but disbelief because I knew by what I was seeing that it wasn't good for my son's best friend," he said

The driver of the SUV was also not injured and stayed on scene. She was questioned by traffic homicide investigators and released.

"Like 20 other cars had passed and they all slowed down and went by and turned and avoided them so I don't know why this car didn't," said Molina.

No charges were filed but police say it is early in the investigation. They are looking into whether or not speed, alcohol or distracted driving played a role in the accident.