New charges against model who, according to police, blamed “pink cocaine” for the deaths of two people in a car crash in Miami

MIAMI — Social media model Maecee Marie Lathers was back in Miami-Dade bail court Thursday to face four new charges in connection with a car crash that killed two people in downtown Miami in mid-August. Authorities said she was high when the crash occurred.

Prosecutors said the new charges were the result of a vehicle data search warrant that showed Lathers, 24, of Miami Gardens, was flooring the accelerator at nearly 80 mph at the time of the Aug. 10 crash.

She is now facing two charges, namely vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving causing serious bodily injury. She has already been charged with eight other charges, including two counts of leaving the scene of an accident causing death. She made her first appearance in bond court on Friday after being released from Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Prosecutors have said they will likely also charge her with manslaughter while intoxicated pending the results of a toxicology test.

According to police, Lathers, whose driver's license had been suspended since January, was driving a white Mercedes-Benz sedan south on North Miami Avenue shortly after 6:45 a.m. when she ran a red light at Eighth Street and collided with a black Range Rover.

According to a new report from Miami Police, the vehicle's data records showed that she was traveling 57 miles per hour five seconds before the crash and accelerated to 78 miles per hour at the moment of impact. The speed limit on that stretch of road is 30 miles per hour.

Both vehicles then collided with a Suzuki sedan carrying three people, police said.

The passenger in the back seat of the Suzuki died at the scene of the accident, while the driver died at the JMH, the police report says.

Family members identified one of the victims on a GoFundMe page as Abraham Ismael, the father of a 16-year-old son. His partner, Juanita Hernández, was injured in the accident.

Lathers and the driver of the Range Rover were also injured.

Authorities said bystanders had to restrain Lathers as she walked away from the scene.

Police said she would tell officers she was under the influence of the party drug “Tusi” and “that she was from the future and had a crystal ball,” Miami-Dade Judge Mindy Glazer said during Lathers' final court appearance Friday.

Tusi, or 2C, is described as a “new blend of ketamine,” also known as “pink cocaine,” in a 2023 medical journal article. That same year, Local 10 News published a special report on the “nightclub narcotic,” which was then considered the most commonly seized drug at Miami International Airport.

Glazer last Friday imposed $140,000 bail, house arrest and a driving ban on Lathers, calling her an “absolute danger to the community.”

On Thursday morning, Lathers faced Judge Rosa Figarola to answer the new charges, this time appearing in a standard orange prison jumpsuit rather than an anti-suicide vest.

The model, whose Instagram posts usually show the upstate New York native looking at the camera and striking seductive poses, looked dejected and sullen throughout the event.

Lathers' attorney Martez Gordon, speaking via Zoom from a hospital parking lot, said the hearing came “out of the blue” and he was not informed about it.

“This is an ambush, Your Honor,” Gordon said.

A prosecutor responded: “This is not an ambush. It is simply additional charges based on the same underlying incident.”

Finally, Gordon, who said Lathers had posted her $140,000 bail and would be released “either today or tomorrow,” asked Figarola to set a standard bail of $20,000 in addition to the bail already in place.

The prosecution demanded a higher sum and a stricter level of house arrest.

“The case is not really a standard case,” said the prosecutor. “She killed two people.”

Figarola replied: “I don’t mean to downplay this in any way.”

She set bail lightly at $26,000 and placed Lathers under strict house arrest.

Lathers remained in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Thursday. According to court records, she is scheduled to go to trial on September 3.