Police Announce Arrest Days After Three Teens Were Killed While Waiting For A Bus In North Miami

NORTH MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Family, friends, and teammates of 3 teenagers who were killed waiting for a bus to take them a soccer tournament over the weekend are still seeking answers about the driver responsible for their deaths.

And as North Miami inducted its new mayor and commissioners Tuesday evening, the council paused to remember three teenagers who lost their lives over the weekend.

"We understand tonight is our induction ceremony but at the same time we cannot forget those three teenagers who died last Saturday in this terrible accident," said Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime.

As the Mayor was being sworn in, North Miami Police continue working the case.

Late Tuesday night, police announced the arrest of 31-year old Mariam Coulibaly, who was found at the scene of the crash behind the wheel.

Coulibaly's mother had nothing to say to CBS4 when approached by our cameras Tuesday.

"I'm her mom. I just find out," she said. "I don't know anything. I don't want no picture."

Coulibaly has a long history of traffic violations, from speeding to driving on a suspended license.

According to investigators, she was driving on a suspended license Saturday.

Police are now guarding her at Aventura Hospital, where she is recovering from injuries that happened during the crash.

Coulibaly will be booked into jail once she is well enough to be discharged from the hospital.

She is being charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of DUI manslaughter, suggesting toxicology tests have confirmed she was intoxicated at the time of the accident.

Coulibaly's car struck Gedeon Desir, 13, Lens Desir 15, and Richecarde Dumay, 17, all members of the Little Haiti Football Club, early Saturday morning at a North Miami bus stop.

Gedeon Desir was a North Miami Middle School student while the other two were Miami Edison High School students. None of them were related.

Early Tuesday evening police announced that an arrest had been made in the case, but then retracted the information a couple hours later before finally confirming it just before 11 p.m.

Miami Edison High students returned to class Tuesday without two of their classmates.

"It's a very hard pill to swallow. I'll find my way to get through it," said friend Prophete Cadet.

Tuesday afternoon, the football team and other from the student body gathered in the athletic field to pray and release balloons to remember their friends.

"It was very sad, like everyone was crying," said one student.  "It made me want to cry, oh my god, it was so sad."

Community activist and coach Luther Campbell joined students remember Richecarde Dumay who played both soccer and football.

"The family come over from Haiti, sent him over here, for a better life and for something like that to happen it just hurts," he said.

Surveillance video from early Saturday shows the three boys walking over the tracks on NE 125th Street and 13th Place in North Miami. It was about 5:15 a.m.

Moments later, there's a car racing across the tracks, where there's a slight curve. It was just out of frame where the three teens were hit and killed.

Earlier Tuesday, parents and family still had no information about who was driving the car during the fatal crash.

The uncle of Lens Desir joined the parents and family for a news conference.  They're demanding North Miami Police release information about the driver and update them on the investigation.

"They should charge her for what she did," said uncle Gary Jean. "She took three boys lives. They had a bright future ahead of them."

Their attorney Brett Rosen wants police to either release information or confirm what the Miami Herald is reporting about the driver.

"…an exotic dancer and we've seen the video of her going over 80 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood, smelling of alcohol, killing these young boys, taking away lives that really matter," he said.

Family members are coming to Miami from Haiti and other parts of the U.S.

Pat Santangelo, who sits on the soccer club's board of directors, says the boys were sent here for a better life, and they took full advantage of the opportunities that were given.

"These three children were the type of kids that any parent would wish their child could be like. We were really, really proud of these three young men; they represented the Little Haiti community very well. They represented the City of Miami very well," said Santangelo.

Fr. Reggie Jean-Mary from Notre Dame d'Haiti Catholic Church said the community lost three sons.

He said he knew Gedeon well, that he was an altar server and here telling friends, "'I don't only want to play soccer, but I want to serve my church,'" Fr. Reggie said. "Every morning he would catch 2 buses to come from North Miami to Notre Dame d'Haiti to serve at the 7 a.m. mass. This is the kind of kids we lost. We didn't lose them to drugs and delinquency, but trying to build a future."

The tragedy also caught the attention of city leaders as well as the Beckham Group's Inter Miami Football Club.

"Our community mourns, our community cries for three young men with such a great future," said Jorge Mas. "I've given our full commitment from Inter Miami to make sure that anything we can do to lessen the pain and the hardship we will be there and we will be present."

There is also a GoFundMe page to help the families pay funeral costs for all three boys.