By Palm Beach & Broward Mugshots
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — A New York man is facing a vehicular homicide charge after investigators alleged that he drove more than twice the speed limit before causing a four-vehicle crash that killed a 81-year-old man.
Akash Deep Das, 29, was charged under Florida’s vehicular homicide statute in connection with the July 9 crash at Central Boulevard and Victoria Falls Boulevard, according to a Palm Beach Gardens Police Department probable cause affidavit.
The charge is an allegation. Das is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Police said Das was driving a 2024 Cadillac Lyriq north on Central Boulevard shortly before 8:46 a.m. Investigators alleged that he accelerated rapidly after leaving a construction zone, changed lanes and passed several vehicles while traveling as fast as 100 mph. The speed limit was 45 mph.
At the same time, Gary Neal Fields was driving a 2021 Audi A4 east across Central Boulevard, the affidavit states. Police alleged that the Cadillac struck the Audi’s right side, forcing it across the intersection and into a Nissan Murano. The Nissan was then pushed into a Volvo XC90.
Officers found Fields unconscious and unresponsive inside the Audi. Because its doors would not open, officers broke windows to reach him and began CPR. Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue transported Fields to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The medical examiner attributed his death to blunt-force trauma, according to the affidavit.
Investigators said footage recovered from a dash camera in the Cadillac showed it accelerating, changing lanes and passing three vehicles before the collision. A time-and-distance analysis estimated that the Cadillac was traveling at an average speed of approximately 92 mph before impact.
Data recovered from the Cadillac’s airbag control module showed speeds ranging from 96 to 100 mph six to eight seconds before the crash, according to police. The module recorded a speed of 55 mph at impact. A separate interpretation of the event data recorder placed the Cadillac’s speed between 96 and 104 mph approximately six seconds before the collision.
Several witnesses told investigators that the Cadillac passed them at an exceptionally high rate of speed. One described the vehicle as moving “like a bullet,” while another estimated it was traveling between 80 and 90 mph, the affidavit states.
The investigation included examinations of all four vehicles, witness interviews, dash-camera footage, electronic crash data and a reconstruction of the collision. Police obtained search warrants for the Cadillac’s event data recorder, infotainment system and related electronic components after Das, through an attorney, withdrew his earlier consent to search the vehicle.
Investigators concluded that Das operated the Cadillac negligently at excessive speed and caused the collision that killed Fields.
The affidavit was signed Aug. 3 and filed with the Palm Beach County Clerk of Court. No information concerning a plea or final disposition was included in the document.
All individuals are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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