12.5 years for fatal DUI

A former Sugarloaf Key cook has begun a 12.5-year sentence in state prison after pleading out to several charges stemming from a fatal drunk-driving auto crash in Key West.

Daniel Mira, 38, was moved from the Monroe County Detention Center on Jan. 4 to the South Florida Reception Center in Doral, one of the locations where the state Department of Corrections decides where one will serve his or her prison term.

Mira ran down Karen Cherry, 54, of Stock Island on Oct. 31, 2014. Cherry died. Three others were injured.

On Dec. 13, Mira pleaded guilty to driving under the influence-manslaughter, one county each of DUI-serious bodily injury and DUI-non-serious bodily injury, and possession of marijuana. Several hit-and-run charges were dropped.

Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Luis Garcia, based on Plantation Key, accepted the plea and imposed the sentence. Following prison, Mira will be under five years of drug-offender probation.

Police say Mira was driving his Nissan Altima when he ran into two scooters carrying four people at North Roosevelt Boulevard and 14th Street in Key West. A witness told police he saw a dark-colored car strike two scooters “at a high rate of speed.” Mira fled.

Timothy Cherry, 56, and Robert Tosi, 55, were airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami with head and body injuries. Arline Tosi, 55, was transported to Lower Keys Medical Center with head and body injuries.