Low Bond on DUI Charge was an Error, Troopers Say. Suspect Turns Himself in on Upgraded Charge
TAVARES, Florida—The man accused of possessing cocaine and driving drunk in a crash that killed a 5-year-old boy turned himself in at the Lake County Jail Wednesday on a DUI manslaughter charge.
Daksh Wadhwa, 30, of Tavares, turned himself in just before 11 a.m. Wednesday after troopers issued a warrant for his arrest in the boy’s death Tuesday afternoon. He is being held on $30,000 bond but sources close to the investigation told Inside Lake he is already in the process of bonding out. Turning in his passport was a condition of the bond, and it was turned in to the Lake County Clerk of Court Wednesday morning.
Wadhwa was driving a 2022 BMW 740I westbound on County Road 448 near Shirley Shores Road at 8:30 a.m. Saturday when he veered into the eastbound lane and both he, and the driver of a 2008 Honda Civic swerved to the left to avoid a collision. The right front of the BMW struck the right side of the Honda, Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Tara Crescenzi said in a press release.
The driver of the Honda, a 29-year-old Mount Dora woman, was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center with serious injuries; her passenger, a 5-year-old boy identified as her son in social media posts, was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children with critical injuries. He succumbed to his injuries late Sunday night, Crescenzi said.
Wadhwa, who was unsteady on his feet and had alcohol emanating from his breath, according to the arrest report, provided a breath sample and his BAC was .189, more than twice the legal limit of .08. He has extensive traffic citation history; according to Lake County Clerk of Court online records Wadhwa has had 18 tickets since 2010.
He was arrested for DUI with serious bodily injury, possession of cocaine and smuggling contraband into a correctional facility. He was released on $3,000 bond Saturday.
“Our trooper completed a thorough investigation, determined impairment, obtained a breath test result of 0.189, and charged the driver appropriately for DUI and possession of cocaine. After the crash investigation, the driver was immediately booked into the Lake County Jail,” Crescenzi said.
Many of our readers questioned why the bond was so low.
“The trooper errantly entered the original bond amount on the arrest report for the initial DUI charge. It was not reported as an error until the driver had already bonded out. Training has been completed with the trooper to provide the correct bond schedule,“ Crescenzi told Inside Lake.