BRADENTON, Fla. — A mother of two died on Saturday night after Bradenton Police said another driver ran a red light and slammed into her vehicle.
Family said 37-year-old Sara Holmes was leaving work at the time of the crash.
Her boyfriend, Sergio Larcher de Brito, was driving a Chevrolet Equinox, and she was sitting in the passenger seat.
"They have literally ripped the most loving person out of our lives," said her mother, Leesa Holmes.
Bradenton Police said25-year-old Cesar Navarrete was driving at an extremely high rate of speed westbound on Cortez Road. Police said he slammed into the Equinox on the passenger side where Holmes was sitting in the vehicle. Holmes was taken to a hospital, where she died.
Police arrested Navarrete for DUI manslaughter and driving with a suspended license. Officers said an investigation revealed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.289.
"Get behind a 2,000 pound missile, a weapon, drive through traffic like that and take into consideration nobody around you," said Sara's mother, Leesa.
The crash happened at 10:40 p.m. on Saturday. Police said Navarrete was speeding westbound on Cortez Road approaching 43rd Street West in Bradenton.
Police said Navarrete and his passenger were injured and remain hospitalized.
Sara's boyfriend said he does not remember much from that night but remembers feeling the impact.
"The point of impact was so bad. I told my friends and family, I don't feel like I was unconscious. I felt like I was awake, but I don't remember after the impact," he said.
Family said Sara was about a block away from home when the crash happened.
Sara worked at Swordfish Grill and Tiki on Cortez Blvd. The restaurant posted on Facebook about her death and shared a GoFundMe page to help her two daughters.
"How do you tell a 3 and 5-year-old that their mom is no longer here? That's no easy task," said Sara's mother.
"It's hard to think about her daughters and how they're going to have to live a life without her. She's beautiful and they deserve her. They deserved for her to be here," said her friend, Desiree McCullough.
Friends described her as selfless, kind, and a dedicated mother.
"She brought security, comfort, love, affection. I mean anything that's good in the dictionary, you can associate that with Sara," said her boyfriend, Sergio.
For more information on the GoFundMe to help Sara's family go to this link
A South Tampa man turned to Susan Solves It after he said ADT told him he had to keep paying for a security system at his Hurricane Helene-damaged home, even though the system was so new that he never had a day of service.
