In the seconds before his garbage truck plowed through a concrete highway barrier and plunged 75 feet down into a popular Little Havana park, Kaseem Smith was driving leisurely over the Miami River.
He wasn’t speeding. He wasn’t texting on his cell phone. And with most of Miami taking President’s Day off, he wasn’t fighting traffic.
Then suddenly, with a clear roadway before him, Smith violently turned the steering wheel of his city of Miami garbage truck to the right, sending his vehicle off the Interstate 95 Southwest Seventh Street exit ramp, newly released video footage shows. As the truck plummeted for three long seconds down into José Martí Park, investigators believe footage from inside the cab also shows that Smith was ejected mid-air like a fighter pilot without a parachute.