Fatal Pedestrian Hit-and-Run Accident Solved as Call to Police Backfires

A fatal pedestrian hit-and-run accident has been solved.  The victim, three days short of her 51^st birthday, was crossing 66^th Street N in Pinellas last February when she was struck and killed by a Ford truck near the 9700 block, police reported. The driver fled, but parts of the truck were found at the scene. The driver was never identified.

On Monday night, a Palm Harbor woman called the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department and asked deputies to remove her boyfriend from their apartment. When the deputies arrived, the boyfriend revealed that the 33-year-old mother had been the driver in the fatal hit-and-run and directed them to the truck, which she had borrowed from a neighbor on the night of the accident.  The damage to the truck from the crash had not been repaired. The deputies called Pinellas Park police who sent officers to interview the woman, who then confessed to having hit the victim with the truck in the February accident. She was arrested and taken to the Pinellas County Jail. She was also arrested on a warrant for driving with a suspended or revoked license. State records indicate that her license was suspended in 2009 and 2010 for failing to pay traffic fines and last year she was cited for DUI.

Leaving the scene of an accident involving a serious injury to a person is now a third degree felony in Florida. The Florida legislature is considering a bill to increase the penalty to a second degree felony.

Pinellas County pedestrian accident and wrongful death attorney James Dodson offers information to the public about various topics related to pedestrian injuries and deaths in a series of videos at http://jimdodsonpedestrianlaw.com/category/video/fatal-pedestrian-accident-video-library/ .