Police say two men were arrested Thursday after driving southbound at an excess of 125 miles per hour near U.S. Highway 1 and Indian River Drive.
At approximately 1:55 a.m., an officer with the Sebastian Police Department said he observed two vehicles driving south through the intersection of CR-512 (Sebastian Blvd) and U.S. Highway 1 at a high rate of speed. As they continued south, police clocked their speeds at 128 mph.
The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office was also dispatched to the area.
“I observed a black in color Chrysler 300 and a gray in color Ford Mustang traveling at a high rate of speed,” the deputy said.
Following the two vehicles was a Sebastian Police Department cruiser. The deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the Chrysler 300 south of Wabasso.
The driver was identified as Gabriel Block, a 22 year-old with a suspended Pennsylvania driver’s license. When the deputy asked Block why he was traveling over 120 mph, he stated, “I don’t know,” and added that he was heading home from Bottoms Up, a bar in Micco.
The deputy suspected Block was intoxicated as he could smell an alcoholic beverage emitting from his breath as he spoke. The deputy asked Block if he would consent to a breath sample to determine his alcohol content, but he refused.
The driver of the Mustang was identified as Pablo Paniagua, 21, of Vero Beach.
When the Sebastian police officer spoke with Pablo, he first stated he was nowhere near Sebastian and denied running from the police.
“After advising Pablo of the evidence I had, he finally confessed to me that he was in Sebastian and it was dumb of him to street race,” the officer said.
The two men were arrested and charged with Racing on a Highway and transported to the Indian River County Jail, where they were held on a $1,500 bond.