Davie man charged in deadly Stirling Road DUI crash

A 74-year-old driver was drunk and driving without headlights when he caused a fatal crash on Stirling Road near University Drive, then was arrested Friday and charged with DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide. Investigators identified the driver as Joseph Anthony Ciavarella. The June 11 collision happened in the 8100 block of Stirling Road, beside University Creek Plaza and the Home Depot at one of Davie’s busiest commercial intersections.

Police obtained an arrest warrant and took Ciavarella into custody after the crash, which happened more than a week before the arrest. The victim was a 55-year-old retired Hollywood police officer. Her teenage child was in the vehicle and witnessed the crash. She served about 15 years with the department, and a detective called her a former supervisor who was kind, family oriented and very experienced. Her husband works in law enforcement.

Stirling Road is a major east-west route through Davie and neighboring Broward communities, with constant turning traffic, shopping-center access points and a mix of residential and commercial drivers. Broward County’s Traffic Engineering Division uses turning-movement counts, traffic-volume counts, delay studies, speed studies and crash studies to identify problem stretches and guide safety planning.

Florida law defines vehicular homicide as the killing of a human being caused by the operation of a motor vehicle in a reckless manner likely to cause death or great bodily harm, and it is generally a second-degree felony. Ciavarella faces that charge along with DUI manslaughter. A Broward judge set bond at $252,000 and ordered him to remain under strict supervision while the case moves toward a Monday hearing.