An Oakland Park man is now facing charges months after authorities said he crashed his luxury car while speeding over 120 mph in Pompano Beach, killing one person.
Angelo Ragonese, 50, faces charges of DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide, child abuse and child neglect without great bodily harm, DUI with property damage and reckless driving with injury or property damage, Broward Sheriff’s jail records show.
Ragonese was driving his 2022 BMW M4 shortly before 9:30 a.m. Sept. 17, with his minor son as his passenger, according to a probable cause affidavit for his arrest.
He was near the intersection of East Atlantic Boulevard and Northeast 15th Avenue, speeding and swerving around other cars, the affidavit said. The front of the BMW crashed into the passenger side of a 2023 Toyota Camry in a T-bone collision as the driver tried to make a turn through the intersection.
The force of the crash spun the Toyota off the road, causing it to smash into the nearby Truist Bank building on East Atlantic Boulevard. Ragonese got out of the BMW and walked toward where the Toyota stopped, “yelling profanities towards the driver of the Toyota who was unconscious,” witnesses said, according to the affidavit. Witnesses said he was aggressive and acting abnormally.
Ragonese and his son were not seriously injured; the Toyota driver was taken to Broward Health North with critical injuries, according to the affidavit.
The Toyota driver was admitted to Broward Health North’s ICU but died two days later after being transferred to hospice care, the affidavit said. His name is redacted in the affidavit, but a court motion filed by prosecutors on Jan. 14 identified him as William Windhurst.
Traffic Homicide detectives believed Ragonese was impaired after talking with witnesses and reviewing physical evidence at the scene, the affidavit said. While at the hospital, he refused to voluntarily give a sample of his blood. Detectives received a search warrant to get a blood sample, and the results about a month later showed he tested positive for cocaine.
Investigators determined that Ragonese was driving at 83 mph when the airbag deployed and at 124 mph moments before impact, the affidavit said. The speed limit in the area is 35 mph.
Ragonese had previously been convicted of driving with a suspended license multiple times dating back to 2000, prosecutors said in the Jan. 14 motion, seeking that he be held in custody ahead of trial.
He had also been convicted of speeding a dozen times between 2012 and 2023, and he had driven at least 100 mph in four of those cases, according to the motion.
Ragonese was booked into the Broward Main Jail on Monday and remained there as of Tuesday night. He pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday.
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