Suspect tried to cover tracks in girl’s death, but Miami-Dade deputies caught on

A 10-year-old girl was killed after she and a 15-year-old were struck by a car while riding an electric motorcycle in Northwest Miami-Dade, sending both children flying off the bike. The driver took off, leaving the critically injured children in the roadway.

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For weeks, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office searched for the driver, who turned himself in on Monday.

Arick Metayer, 33, is charged with leaving the scene of a deadly crash, leaving the scene of a crash with bodily injuries and tampering with physical evidence.

On Sept.9, shortly before 9 p.m., the children were riding a 2026 Surron electric off-road motorcycle while going south on Northwest Seventh Avenue, deputies say. They began crossing Northwest 117th Street at the intersection where Metayer was making a left turn to go west. He turned straight into the children, failing to yield to their right of way. The children were hit by the passenger side front and rear doors of Metayer’s 2012 Nissan Versa.

The 10- and 15-year-old were ejected from the motorcycle. Metayer immediatelly drove off, deputies say.

The children were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition. The 10-year-old girl died the next morning. The teen boy remains in critical condition.

Surveillance footage shows that shortly after the crash, Metayer stopped at Northwest 177th Street and Eighth Avenue to look at the damage to his car, before continuing to drive away,

The car was found at Metayer’s home and deputies say that both passenger side-doors and the passenger side mirror had been replaced with different colored parts. The original crushed parts have yet to be found.

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On Sept. 11, the exterior of the car was swabbed and tested for the children’s DNA. The DNA matched to the 10-year-old girl that died, deputies say.

The following day, detectives obtained a search warrant for Metayer’s phone records, which placed him at U Pull It Davie, a self-service junkyard the day after the crash. It also placed him on a Brightline train from Miami to Orlando less than 24 hours after the crash.

Surveillance footage from U Pull It shows Metayer picking out and replacing his damaged car parts. A U Pull It employee told deputies that Metayer came in the day after the crash. The employee helped Metayer, who told him that he had been in a crash, deputies say.

The employee said that later that day, his co-workers had told him about the fatal hit-and-run that happened in the area that Metayer had told him his crash happened. The employee then called Metayer.

“People are talking about you,” he told Metayer, according to his arrest affidavit. “That little girl died that you hit.”

“I know. I’m going to hire an attorney,” Metayer responded, per the affidavit. The U Pull It employee told Metayer that people were seeking to kill him in retaliation for the crash.

On Monday, Metayer, with an attorney at his side, turned himself at the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office headquarters. He remains locked up at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Tuesday with a bond status of “to be set,” jail records show.

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This story was originally published September 29, 2026 at 1:59 PM.