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Newly released body camera footage shows the arrest of a social media model accused of causing a fatal downtown Miami car crash last month she was on a concoction of substances known as «pink cocaine.»
Maecee Marie Lathers, 24, was arrested shortly after the 7 a.m. Aug. 10 crash in which her Mercedes slammed into a Range Rover and Suzuki, local station WTVJ-TV reported. Two people were killed and two others were injured.
The Instagram model, who has over 13,000 followers, faces 10 criminal charges including vehicular homicide, reckless driving, driving with a suspended license, causing injury and leaving the scene with death, court records show.
Lathers told police she had taken tusi, a party drug also known as pink cocaine, during her arrest, according to WTVJ-TV. Police said Lathers also claimed to have a crystal ball and to be from the future. State prosecutors later shared a toxicology report that found several drugs in her system but no alcohol.
The Miami Gardens resident was placed under house arrest after posting bond, the station reported. However she returned to jail following two DUI manslaughter charges added at a court hearing Tuesday.
USA TODAY has reached out to Lathers’ attorney for comment but did not immediately receive a response by Friday night.
Video shows Lathers screaming during arrest
Body camera footage released by Miami police to multiple media outlets shows Lathers on the ground, topless and breathing heavily after the Aug. 10 accident.
Handcuffed by officers, she is seen screaming and sounding incoherent.
«She’s on tusi. She said that right now,» one officer said in the video. «She’s like, ‘Oh, I’m from the future.'»
Police said bystanders stopped Lathers from leaving the scene of the crash, according to the Miami Herald. Upon arrival, officers found her vomiting.
What is tusi, or pink cocaine?
Tusi, or 2C, is a pink powder that combines psychoactive substances like ketamine, MDMA (ecstasy), methamphetamine and opioids, according to a report by New York University professor Joseph J. Palamar published in the National Center For Biotechnology Information last year.
Despite its name, the drug rarely contains actual cocaine, the report says.
«The tusi phenomenon also has the potential to complicate drug research as unknown exposure to drugs like ketamine and MDMA will lead to underreporting of use,» Palamar wrote. “
Tusi is short for «tusibi» and also known as «tuci» or «tucibi,» NewsNation reported. The synthetic drug reportedly originated in Colombia and is illegally sold in the U.S.
Abraham Ismael and Jesus Rubio killed in crash
The crash for which Lathers is being charged killed Abraham Ismael and Jesus Rubio, the Miami Herald reported.
Ismael, a father of a teenage son, was driving to work in a Suzuki with his fiancée, Juanita Hernandez, and Rubio, his friend, when the crash occurred. First responders extricated Ismael from the wreckage and he died at a local hospital while Rubio was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the the Miami Herald.
Hernandez sustained injuries including face and arm cuts. A 23-year-old man driving the Range Rover sustained minor injuries from the crash.
«It has been weeks of great anguish and the ashes have already been delivered to us,» Hernandez wrote in Spanish on a GoFundMe page for Ismael on Aug. 29.
