A woman who took the wheel while intoxicated the night of April 9, 2024 changed the life of a Monroe County Sheriff’s deputy who was severely injured while conducting a traffic stop.
On Oct. 13, the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office announced 29-year-old Alexandra Baraga accepted a negotiated plea deal stemming from the drunken-driving crash on U.S. 1 in Islamorada in which her vehicle veered to the side of the road and crashed into the back of a patrol vehicle. At the time, deputy Julian Garcia was walking between his car and vehicle he pulled over. Garcia suffered catastrophic and permanent injuries.
Baraga was ultimately found guilty on seven charges. Inside the Plantation Key Courthouse, Circuit Court Judge James Morgan handed Baraga a sentence of four years in state prison, followed by one year of probation, on the felony charge of DUI causing serious bodily injury. She was also sentenced to five years probation on the felony charge of reckless driving causing serious bodily injury, to run consecutively to the probation imposed on the first count. She received concurrent jail sentences on the remaining misdemeanor charges.
In addition, Baraga’s driver’s license was suspended for three years. She was ordered to complete 50 hours of community service, attend DUI school and submit to random drug and alcohol testing.
“Truthfully I liked it,” Garcia said regarding the plea agreement. “The thought of having to go through trial, I know it would have been too much for me. “I hate thinking about the accident. The state attorney’s office came to me with this offer and they explained it and I really agreed with it.”
The courtroom was filled with Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies and personnel who came to support deputy Garcia, whose life was changed by the April 9, 2024, crash. Garcia, who lost his left leg from the knee down, returned to work in June 2025 following a lengthy recovery and many physical therapy sessions.
Garcia was conducting an evening traffic stop along U.S. 1 near mile marker 87 in Islamorada when Baraga struck the rear of his patrol vehicle, pushing it into the vehicle he had stopped and pinning Garcia between them. Garcia suffered serious injuries to his left leg. Fellow deputies rushed to his aid, applying tourniquets to control severe bleeding before he was airlifted by Trauma Star to Jackson South Medical Center in Miami.
The Florida Highway Patrol investigated the crash. Subsequent blood testing by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement revealed Baraga’s blood alcohol concentration was approximately .268, more than three times Florida’s legal limit of .08.
Joseph Mansfield, chief assistant state attorney, emphasized the lasting consequences of Baraga’s actions and her silence during sentencing.
“This was entirely preventable. Baraga made the decision to drive drunk, and a deputy who was simply doing his job will live with the consequences for the rest of his life,” he said. “What is particularly troubling is that she stood before the court and said nothing to the deputy whose life she permanently changed. Not one word to the man who will carry the scars of her actions for the rest of his life. Her four years in prison will eventually end. Deputy Garcia’s injuries will not. No plea agreement and no prison sentence can undo the damage caused by her reckless and selfish decision.”
The case was prosecuted by assistant state attorneys Melissa Simmons and Trey Evans.
The state attorney’s office also recognizes the deputies, emergency medical personnel and Florida Highway Patrol troopers who responded to the crash, along with the many members of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office who stood in support of deputy Garcia throughout the case.
Garcia credited many people, from his family to the sheriff’s office, in his journey to recovery and returning to work. The community also came to his side at a June 2025 fundraiser organized by then-Islamorada Mayor Sharon Mahoney to help him get back on his feet. The event generated $60,000 for Garcia.
“It felt great knowing so many people were wondering how I was doing and asking how I was progressing,” he said.
Garcia told the Keys Weekly in an interview last year that being a police officer is something he always wanted to do, even after the accident. And he didn’t want to lose his job from losing his leg.
