An automobile accident on a dark, four-lane highway in the Dominican Republic back in September 2020 almost derailed the then-Pittsburgh Pirates’ top prospect Oneil Cruz’s career. But the scandal that made headlines in the Dominican Republic and the United States vanished within days. The “how” behind it has been unknown until recently.
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Investigative journalism organization ProPublica uncovered how Santo Caraballo helped Oneil Cruz, now 27, save his up-and-coming career. ProPublica identified Caraballo as a popular “prestamista,” or moneylender, working in the country. He allegedly played a key role in helping Cruz settle with the families of those who died when prosecutors were ready to file a case against him.
A top prospect within the Pirates organization at the time, Cruz was reportedly home from training camp to help his girlfriend with her pregnancy complications. On the fateful day, he was driving on Carretera Sánchez between Baní and San Cristóbal when his Grand Cherokee Jeep rear-ended a motorcycle.
While Cruz reportedly did not suffer any major injury, the tragic accident took the lives of all three people on the motorcycle.
When Luis David Saba arrived at the desolate accident site at 4 AM on September 21, 2020, blood, debris, and a pile of branches were the only remaining signs of the accident.
Dominicans cover dead bodies left by paramedics with anything they find nearby. And under that pile of branches was the body of his 20-year-old brother, Yohan Saba Mercado.
Yohan was riding the motorcycle that Oneil Cruz’s car collided with.
While Saba reportedly waited hours for forensic officers who never turned up, tragedy befell the families of the two girls riding on the back of Yohan’s vehicle.
At one hospital, Deby Beato Charles, 20, died from severe head and chest trauma, and at another, Daniela Perez Garcia, 19, died from hypovolemic shock. During hypovolemic shock, a person’s organs shut down due to excessive loss of bodily fluids.
At the funerals of Daniela and Yohan, their families became aware that Cruz was driving the jeep. He was a popular face in the Dominican Republic by then.
Cruz, signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers at 16 on a $950,000 signing bonus, belonged to a well-known baseball family from Nizao. With the Pirates envisioning him as a future fixture in the lineup, Oneil Cruz was on the road to becoming one of the best baseball players from that area. Nizao is a Dominican farm town, only 7 miles from the accident spot, and it has been a baseball hub. Ketel Marte and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. both hailed from the same town.
Cruz was reportedly detained by the police at the accident scene at 1 A.M. His future MLB career was hanging in the balance.
The prosecutors alleged that he was driving under the influence of “alcoholic beverages.” However, the police did not charge him with a DUI.
According to ProPublica, “In a court filing the following day, prosecutors said that they had opened an investigation “en contra del imputado,” “against the accused.” They sought “coercive measures,” a mechanism in Dominican law by which a suspect can be forced to remain in custody while an investigation continues.”
The Dominican judiciary allows families to opine on whether to proceed with prosecution. At that point, Caraballo intervened.
He negotiated with the families to sign declarations withdrawing all “civil, penal, and judicial” complaints against Cruz, per ProPublica.
Oneil Cruz appeared before the court for the first time two days after the accident. At the time, the Pirates also issued a statement regarding the accident and the court proceedings.
“The Pirates are aware of the tragic accident in the Dominican Republic involving Oneil Cruz,” Pirates senior vice president of communications Brian Warecki stated, per MLB.com. “We have been in contact with Oneil, and he is cooperating fully with the local authorities. We will provide an update as more information becomes available.”
Per reports, Cruz’s attorneys asked the court for two days during the hearing so that the families of those who died could, “in a humane way, seek solutions” for them and their “material hardships.” The investigative article notes that in the meantime, Carabello finalized settlements worth approximately $66,000 for the families.
They also signed two documents to finalize the proceedings.
One was filed in court, and the other was not. ProPublica reviewed the two documents with the help of Daniela’s family.
“The document filed in court states that the family sought to “withdraw” all legal claims against Cruz. It also says that the family had not received any “pecuniary interest” in return for withdrawing the claims. They were doing so out of an awareness that the accident was not caused by Cruz, the document says, ‘but rather by circumstances of life,'” reported the outlet.
The other document was a contract signed by Oneil Cruz’s mother and Daniela’s parents.
It was a settlement that stated that the Cruz family paid 900,000 pesos, about $15,000, for Daniela’s “funeral expenses.” The money was apparently paid as compensation for “damages caused” by Cruz to Daniela’s family.
Garcia and her other son, Juan Manuel, told ProPublica that they ultimately received around 300,000 pesos, or less than $5,000. Her father claimed that he got nothing.
ProPublica reached out to Oneil Cruz’s mother, who signed those documents. But she denied any involvement. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Pirates have clarified their stance.
Pittsburgh Pirates on the accident involving Oneil Cruz
Per sources, Oneil Cruz and the other three car crash victims all broke the COVID-19 protocols that were in place at the time. The Dominican Republic had a curfew at 5 PM. But young people in small towns hardly followed them.
According to court records, Cruz’s car rear-ended Yohan’s motorcycle on the poorly lit, desolate highway in the middle of the night. Notably, the motorcycle was reportedly missing tail lights.
Cruz had called 911, per his lawyers, and a lieutenant from the national police responded to the scene. But his report offers little detail on the accident site or the investigation that followed.
However, there was no indication of whether Cruz or Yohan was driving recklessly. Plus, none of the riders were reportedly wearing helmets.
Back in 2020, Pirates’ GM Ben Cherington defended Cruz while speaking on 93.7 The Fan Sunday.
Offering his condolences to the families of the dead, Cherington said, “This is a young man with a really bright future who was involved in a bad accident, and I want to emphasize that word accident. There is not a single piece of evidence that we’ve seen that this is anything but an accident. Everything that we’ve learned, including from Oneil and his family, is consistent with that.”
Cruz did not comment on the accident to ProPublica. But his lawyers spoke to the outlet.
They called it “a profound tragedy for all parties involved, especially the victims’ families.”
According to ProPublica, “He [lawyer] went on to say that the court ‘issued an order of dismissal based on the findings, a legally binding decision that was a lawful resolution of this matter.’”
Cruz’s current team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, is also aware of the tragedy that involved him. A spokesperson spoke to the journalism outlet on the club’s behalf.
He said that the Pirates have “addressed this matter more than six years ago based on the information available and the outcome of the legal proceedings.”
With the new investigative piece coming to light, fans are divided about how to interpret the tragedy and the incidents that followed.