PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A Royal Palm Beach man is under arrest after the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said he killed a 29-year-old woman during a reckless street race.
Donde Nicolas, 24, was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail just before 11 p.m. Thursday on charges of vehicular homicide and racing on a highway.
According to Nicolas' arrest report, he was driving a 2018 Infiniti Q60S and street racing against a 43-year-old man in a 2020 Toyota Corolla northbound on Military Trail at approximately 1 a.m. on July 2.
At the same time, a 2004 Hyundai, driven by Sophie Prudhomme, 29, was going southbound on Military Trail and made a left turn onto Belvedere Road. That's when Nicolas slammed into the Hyundai, causing it to spin out and smash into a concrete pole.
Prudhomme was taken to a local hospital, where she was tragically pronounced deceased.
Nicolas and his 17-year-old brother in the Infiniti were both taken to St. Mary's Medical Center with injuries.
According to Nicolas' arrest report, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office analyzed the event data recorders in his Infiniti and the other street racing car and found they were traveling more than 100 mph in a 40 mph zone right before the crash.
A witness at a nearby gas station said he heard a loud crash that sounded "like a bomb went off." That man went to Prudhomme's Hyundai, where he found her unconscious.
A second witness at the gas station said he heard the impact and saw the vehicles "annihilated."
A third woman in the area who described herself as a "car girl" and "involved in the racing community" told PBSO investigators she heard "cars engine revving and knew based on her experience that cars were racing," the report stated.
According to Nicolas' arrest report, he told sheriff's office investigators he was driving the Infiniti at the time of the crash, but he claimed he was only going approximately 40 miles per hour when Prudhomme "pulled out in front of him."
In court Friday, a judge set Nicolas' bond at $55,000 and ordered him to not drive or have any contact with Prudhomme's family.
The 43-year-old man who the sheriff's office said was also street racing has not been arrested in the case, court records show.
