{"id":508,"date":"2026-08-11T19:25:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/?p=508"},"modified":"2026-08-11T19:25:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:25:45","slug":"indian-student-charged-for-killing-81-year-old-man-in-florida-after-driving-cadillac-like-a-bullet-at-100mph-attorney-asks-court-to-allow-him-to-return-to-columbia-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/?p=508","title":{"rendered":"Indian student charged for killing 81-year-old man in Florida after driving Cadillac like a bullet at 100mph, attorney asks court to allow him to return to Columbia University"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-133164426,imgsize-44508,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/indian-student-akash-das-was-arrested-and-charged-with-vehicular-homicide-photo-wpbf.jpg\" alt=\"Indian student charged for killing 81-year-old man in Florida after driving Cadillac like a bullet at 100mph, attorney asks court to allow him to return to Columbia University\" title=\"indian student Akash Das was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide (Photo: WPBF)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"indian student Akash Das was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide (Photo: WPBF)\">indian student Akash Das was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide (Photo: WPBF)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Indian student Akash Das was behind the wheel when his Cadillac SUV collided with an Audi sedan, and the 81-year-old driver of the Audi, Gary Neal Fields, died. The accident took place in July, and Das was arrested in August and his bail was set.<!-- --> The police arrest report was recently made public and it revealed that four vehicles were involved in the fatal crash and Das was speeding at 100 mph in a 45 mph zone.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"3\"\/>Investigators who analyzed the data from the Cadillac&#8217;s airbag control said Das showed &#8220;willful and wanton disregard for the safety of others&#8221;. Das made his first court appearance on August 6. Palm Beach Post reported that he remained in custody as of the morning of August 7. <!-- -->Circuit Judge Donald Hafele set Das&#8217; bail at $125,000 and ordered that he be placed on in-house arrest upon his release.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2>Attorney says Das is from a good family<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/>Defense attorney Adam Farkas, who represented Das in court, said Das is currently living in South Florida to complete an internship with a company that specializes in AI. He said that Das is seeking to return to New York to finish his pursuit of a Master&#8217;s degree from Columbia University.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"12\"\/>Farkas did not respond to the speeding allegation, but said there was no evidence that Das&#8217; actions were intentional.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"15\"\/>The attorney also said that Das is from a good family and has no police record. &#8220;He&#8217;s charged with negligent vehicular homicide, meaning that there was no intent at all,&#8221; Farkas said. &#8220;He comes from a very good family, he&#8217;s never been in trouble before and hopefully we can put this all behind him. It was a tragic accident that occurred.&#8221;<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2>Eyewitnesses said Das was driving like a bullet<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"20\"\/>Das&#8217; Cadillac crashed into the right rear door of Fields&#8217; Audi, causing the Audi to crash into a Nissan SUV that was sitting at a stop sign. <!-- -->The Nissan then collided with a Volvo SUV that was traveling west on Victoria Falls. Fields was unresponsive and when he was taken to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, he died. Das and the Nissan&#8217;s driver had injuries that were not life-threatening. The Volvo driver was not hurt.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>One driver told investigators the vehicle came up behind her \u201clike a bullet,\u201d shaking her car as it sped past. Another witness recalled thinking, \u201cThey\u2019re going to kill someone,\u201d moments before the collision. Das remains charged with vehicular homicide.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/world\/us\/indian-student-charged-for-killing-81-year-old-man-in-florida-after-driving-cadillac-like-a-bullet-at-100mph-attorney-asks-court-to-allow-him-to-return-to-columbia-university\/articleshow\/133164017.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>indian student Akash Das was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide (Photo: WPBF) Indian student Akash Das was behind the wheel when his Cadillac SUV collided with an Audi sedan, and the 81-year-old driver of the Audi, Gary Neal Fields, died. The accident took place in July, and Das was arrested in August and his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chetana.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}