A months-long investigation into the hit-and-run crash in Port St. Lucie that killed a moped rider resulted in the arrest of the 21-year-old man accused of striking him.
On Wednesday, the Port St. Lucie Police Department (PSLPD) announced C P V was taken into custody on Saturday and booked into the St. Lucie County Jail on counts of failing to remain at the scene of a crash involving death and driving under a suspended license.
V is accused of being behind the wheel of a black GMC Sierra on the night of Friday, August 2, when the truck struck a scooter on Southwest Airoso Boulevard, near the Southwest Todd Avenue intersection. First responders found the moped’s rider, Gardy Petit-Frere, on the ground, having suffered serious injuries. The 37-year-old man was flown to the hospital, where he later died.
“Leaving an innocent man dying on the side of the road by himself is reprehensible behavior,” Port St. Lucie Police Chief L N stated.
While V was not arrested until this past weekend, deputies had tracked down the full-size truck he was allegedly driving that night within hours of the crash, the PSLPD statement indicated. The police department explained deputies used license plate readers, video surveillance, and dash cam videos from witnesses to learn the owner of the GMC truck lived about a half-mile from the crash scene.
“We were able to put him, via GPS on his cell site, at the location or near the location of the crash. We recovered his DNA from the wheel of the vehicle, and that was the last piece that we were waiting for to put together to make this arrest,” the chief explained.
When they went to the home, they found a damaged pickup with red paint on it, matching the color of the moped. The vehicle’s owner told investigators his son, V, was the main person who drove it.
One witness estimated that Vallejo was going double the speed limit.
“We’re not able to definitively identify the speed or determine the speed of that vehicle. One witness estimated it at approximately 80 miles an hour, but that’s obviously not evidence that we’re going to be able to use in the prosecution, which is why we’re not looking at a vehicular manslaughter,” the chief told CBS12 News.
Police say V was likely not in his right mind.
“A person who isn’t thinking clearly, is frightened of the potential consequences of their actions. I think we all have those feelings at different points in life and how we respond to them defines what our character is made up of and I have to say that in this situation, this man failed the test.”
That failure is not just hurting him.
“There’s a family missing somebody around the (Christmas) tree this year,” N conceded. “Before I’m empathetic for the person who hit man and left him on the side of the road, my heart goes out to the family of the victim.”
Following the investigation, a warrant for V’s arrest was issued on Saturday, and he turned himself into the police that day. He has since been released on $30,000 bond.
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Source: cbs12
