No Criminal Charges For Woman Who Hit, Killed Two Teens Pushing Broken-Down Car

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MIRAMAR (CBSMiami) – The woman who hit and killed a teenage couple on a dark road in Miramar in July 2015 will not face criminal charges, the Broward State Attorney's Office decided.

Prosecutors say it was excessive speed and a lack of attention that caused the crash, not alcohol or distraction.

The decision does not sit well with Bertha Roman, the mother of Gabrielle Camps – one of the victims in the crash.

Camps' boyfriend, Jonah Mosaphir, was also killed.

Roman says her daughter loved to help others.

"My daughter helped a lot of people," Roman said. "She was special."

It was that desire to help that led Camps and her boyfriend, Jonah Mosaphir, to help push a friend's broken down BMW on Pembroke Road in the wee hours of the morning of July 27, 2015.

Police say Asia Valentine was driving a GMC Envoy when she hit Camps, killing her and then hit Mosaphir, killing him.

Police investigated to see if Valentine had been drinking. According to the prosecutor's close out memo in the case a fire rescue captain said he smelled alcohol on her breath but saw no other signs of impairment.

"There was one witness, Capt. Logan from Fire Rescue, who after a very brief interaction with Valentine said he believed he smelled alcohol coming from Valentine," the prosecutor wrote. "However, Capt. Logan did not see any other signs of impairment."

Detectives reported that Valentine was "…not slurring her speech, was answering his questions appropriately, did not have glassy eyes."

Prosecutors determined that there "was no competent evidence that Valentine was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash."

Because of that the "Miramar Police Department did not have probable cause to take a forced blood sample from Ms. Valentine."

But the fire rescue captain's belief left Roman with concerns.

"(It) makes me question what the police said after the incident," she said. "I just wish that I knew what happened that night and why the decisions that we're made, we're made."

Police also looked at Valentine's phone records and found "…she was not using her phone prior to impact, at impact, or immediately after the impact."

What they did find, according to the prosecutor, is that Valentine only tried to avoid teens pushing the car after she first hit Camps, who was several feet behind the car.

"If Valentine was traveling at the posted speed limit of 45 mph she would have been able to safely avoid the pedestrian and the BMW," the memo says.

Valentine was given a citation. She paid a $1,000 fine and had her license suspended for a few months. Roman though still wonders how Valentine didn't see the BMW.

"Every light was on in that car," she said. "How she didn't see them is beyond me."

Roman is suffering a loss that no parent should have to suffer.

She wants the law changed in her daughter's honor to mandate that in a deadly or serious accident the person responsible must give a blood sample.

"I think the law should be changed that the person that is responsible needs to be tested," Roman said.

Roman says that the families of the victims are considering civil lawsuits in this case.

Valentine declined to speak with CBS4 News for this story but her attorney, Barry Snyder, said she is extremely remorseful for what happened but that this was a terrible accident.