A 24-year-old Indiantown man is facing manslaughter charges as well as multiple counts of driving under the influence in connection with a weekend crash that killed his 18-year-old girlfriend.

Manuel Miguel Francisco, a Guatemalan native who told authorities he is in the country illegally, was arrested Saturday morning, hours after he lost control of the pickup he was driving on Southwest Farms Road.

The truck overturned and crashed into a fence just before 1:30 a.m., killing Francisco’s girlfriend and injuring five others in the vehicle - the girlfriend’s son, her friend and the friend’s three children.

The other passengers suffered head, leg and arm injuries, and one had a fractured skull.

In an arrest report, Florida Highway Patrol Cpl. Robert Ruiz noted that he saw Corona beer bottles in the truck, and another trooper at the hospital where Francisco and the others were taken said there was a strong smell of alcohol on his breath.

Troopers said an occupant in the vehicle said that Francisco had been drinking all day and ordered her and his girlfriend to go with him as he drove to a gas station to get more beer.

Officials at the hospital took blood samples from Francisco, but a breath test taken more than five hours after the accident indicated Francisco had a blood-alcohol level of 0.115 percent, above the 0.08 percent level at which a driver is presumed impaired in Florida.

Francisco, who had a prior DUI conviction, is being held without bail on a charge of DUI manslaughter, five charges of DUI with serious bodily injury, DUI property damage and driving without a license.

Tags: arrest, death, hospital, Indiantown, property

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