A 24-year-old woman was arrested following what police said was a fatal hit-and-run crash Sunday involving a pedestrian, according to a police spokesperson and records obtained Monday.
Shanice Tatiana Person, of Palm Bay, was arrested on charges including fail to stop remain at crash involving death and driving while license suspended with death, records show.
Killed in the crash on Indian River Boulevard at the Merrill P. Barber Bridge was 39-year-old Jhovany Edgardo Diaz Rojas, records show.
Vero Beach police were called at 2:08 a.m. to the incident, said Officer Kelsea Marty, police spokesperson.
A witness told investigators he was at the intersection and heard a “loud impact” and then squealing tires, records state. He saw a four-door vehicle accelerate, traveling north on Indian River Boulevard.
Police and Indian River County Sheriff’s officials found a vehicle with “heavy damage” on the front driver’s side and a shattered windshield on the driver’s side and stopped it in the area of the 4700 block of Indian River Boulevard, which is north of the crash scene.
Three women were in the vehicle, which investigators ultimately concluded was driven by Person in the crash.
Person told investigators the three had been at Filthy’s Fine Cocktails & Beer on 16th Street. According to records, Person smelled strongly of marijuana and said she had “two cups of Patron.” Patron is a brand of tequila.
“I was (expletive) up, I ain’t gon (sic) lie, smoking weed at Filthy’s,” Person is quoted as saying. She said the last alcoholic beverage she had was at about 1 a.m. She initially denied driving, saying she doesn’t drive because she is a habitual traffic offender and her license is suspended.
The two other women in the vehicle said Person had been driving after they left Filthy’s.
Person later told investigators she was driving at the time of the crash.
“She stated at the moment of impact to the windshield, she became aware that she struck something large in the middle of the road that was likely alive and could possibly be a person,” records state.
Person said she pulled over, and one of the other women in the vehicle got in the driver’s seat and traveled north before investigators stopped them.
The affidavit did not state whether investigators performed field sobriety tests on Person.
Marty did not immediately respond to inquiries Monday regarding that.
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Source: tcpalm
