Porsche killer drove at 116 km/h

The Globo news portal G1 obtained the official report on the Porsche accident in São Paulo that killed young Carolina Cintra Santos. Read more:

The São Paulo Civil Police reported that the expert report from the Institute of Criminalistics (IC) of the São Paulo Technical Scientific Police indicated that the Porsche driven by businessman Marcelo Malvio Alves de Lima, 36, was traveling at 116 km/h before crashing into the Hyundai Tucson driven by lawyer Carolina Menezes Cintra Santos, 28, causing her death in the early hours of July 9 this year, in the South Zone of São Paulo. The result of the examination was released by delegate Paul Henry Bozon Verduraz, head of the 15th Police District, in Itaim Bibi, on Friday (30) and obtained by G1.

The collision occurred around 3 a.m. on Tabapuã Street, near the corner of Bandeira Paulista Street, in Itaim Bibi. According to witnesses, the Porsche was speeding through a green light, and the Hyundai ran a red light. The impact sent the cars crashing into a lamppost, one on top of the other, more than 20 meters from the point of impact.

The police chief said that the 116 km/h figure was determined after calculations based on technical analyses and footage from cameras that recorded the vehicle's passage. The speed at the moment of the collision was not released by the IC (Criminalistics Institute). Verduraz stated, however, that he will ask the experts to also perform this calculation.

Carolina died at the scene and was buried in Bahia, her home state. Footage recorded shortly after the accident by an amateur cameraman shows Marcelo walking away, lamenting the loss of the luxury vehicle.

The owner of the Porsche had already been indicted for intentional homicide by Detective Noel de Oliveira Rodrigues Júnior, also from the 15th Police Precinct. Marcelo, who was arrested, was released after paying R$ 300 in bail set by the court.

According to police chief Paul Verduraz, the report does not change the classification of the crime for which the driver is being prosecuted. However, the document is important technical evidence to prove that Marcelo truly assumed the risk of killing someone when he drove down the street at a speed almost three times higher than the maximum allowed in that location.

"It's not necessary to know whether he was drunk or not. The proven fact is that he was traveling at 116 km/h before the crash. The speed at the time of the collision is not reported, but it could be up to 20% higher," said police chief Paul Verduraz.

"The report only confirmed our expectations. It's the missing piece of technical evidence. The Porsche driver knew he could kill someone driving at that speed, but he accelerated anyway, assuming that risk of killing, and killed the young woman in the other car."

Verduraz intends to report the case to the Public Prosecutor's Office and the courts next week. Based on the new Code of Criminal Procedure, the court stipulated, in addition to bail, a prohibition on the businessman frequenting bars and nightclubs. He is also prohibited from leaving the city without notifying the court and cannot leave the country. G1 tried to contact the suspect or his lawyers for comment, but was unable to locate them.

According to Verduraz, when giving his statement to the police, the businessman claimed that he had drunk a glass of wine and accelerated his car to about 60 km/h to escape what he thought was an attempted robbery.

But according to the delegate of the 15th DP, Marcelo's defense argument doesn't hold up, especially after the confirmation of the Porsche's speed, according to the report.

“His claim that he was fleeing a robbery was dismissed by the forensic investigation. He said he accelerated to about 60 km/h, but the first image of the car on that road shows that he was going 116 km/h. When he hit the lawyer's car, he accelerated. It's possible to assume that the speed was close to 140 km/h, but there's no guarantee of that, so I'm going to request a supplementary report that confirms the speed at the moment of the crash. It doesn't matter if he went through a green light and the victim ran a red light. She was driving at a low speed, but he was driving well above the maximum speed limit,” said Verduraz.

The police chief is now awaiting the toxicology report from the lawyer to determine, for example, if she had consumed alcohol. “But that won't change the police's conclusion. The fact is that the driver assumed the risk of killing. Our expectation now is that he will be brought to a jury trial to be judged for what he did,” he said.

Porsche driver's version

Marcelo gave his statement on August 21st at the 15th Police Precinct. According to Detective Noel de Oliveira Rodrigues Júnior, the driver cried while talking about the accident and recounting how he learned of the lawyer's death.

The businessman told police that he went to a restaurant in the same neighborhood, had a glass of wine, and drank plenty of water. "He only remembers driving off from Rua João Cachoeira. He drove off rather forcefully. There were two people there, and he suspected he might be the victim of a robbery," the police chief stated.

The businessman told police he only saw a blur before the collision. "He even says he saw a blur, but it was too late, he didn't have time to react."