Authorities arrested a 20-year-old Lauderhill man on Tuesday after they said he was behind the wheel in a deadly hit-and-run crash in January.
According to the Lauderhill Police Department, the crash happened at around 8 p.m. on Jan. 20 at Northwest 31st Avenue and Broward Boulevard.
An arrest report states that the victim, who was panhandling at the intersection, was first hit by a driver in a Mercedes-Benz SUV who would stay at the scene; police said Jayden Isaiah Rodriguez, traveling “far behind” the SUV, drove around the SUV and ran over the man, who was in the roadway.
The victim, whose identity was redacted from the report, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Police said Rodriguez, then 19, eventually came to a stop and inspected the damage on his Hyundai Genesis. The report states he drove off after the other driver took a picture of his license plate.
The report states that Lauderhill officers located Rodriguez’s sedan a few hours later at his home in the 100 block of Northwest 33rd Terrace; they said the vehicle had damage to its front bumper.
Authorities said they spoke to Rodriguez’s stepfather and mother; they said that Rodriguez told his mother that he was “in the area of Martin Luther King” when “a tire flew off and hit the side of the car and he kept going” and that “someone took a picture of his license.”
Police later met with Rodriguez, who claimed he didn’t remember telling his mother any of that, the report states. Police said Rodriguez admitted to being in the area at the time, but denied having knowledge of the crash.
Authorities said license plate reader and cellphone data placed Rodriguez in the area of the crash and surveillance video showed Rodriguez at the scene.
Doorbell camera video, police said, would show Rodriguez telling his mother about the “tire” and the other driver who took a picture of his license plate.
Rodriguez was booked into the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail on a charge of leaving the scene of a crash involving death; he was being held on a $50,000 bond as of Wednesday afternoon, online jail records show.
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Source: Local10
