Photo by: abc-7
Southwest Florida is a hotspot for hit-and-run accidents, and officials say it needs to stop.
It’s tough for Kristi Aldridge to move around, play with her daughter or drive to work right now. She is waiting to get an MRI after a car accident on March 8. Her car is totaled.
“I had just picked my daughter up from school,” Aldridge said. “It was around 4 p.m., I think it’s Friday afternoon.”
She was driving home along Kismet Parkway near Andalusia Boulevard in Cape Coral when she heard a car horn.
“Before I could even look up or react or anything, this guy had hit me in the driver’s side, right above my tire, and I spun out,” she said.
A van hit Aldridge nearly head-on, pushing her into a trailer. This crash haunts her and her daughter every day.
“When we were spinning, out of the corner of my eye I saw him taking off,” she said. “So like I got the color of his car and the van driving away and I could see the side of his face.”
Adrenaline was pumping, she couldn’t get out of the car fast enough to catch the man who hit her, but she was grateful that someone else could.
“For them to stop and then to even chase after the guy and catch him, that like, I don’t know; it restored my faith in humanity,” she said.
They gave Carlos Antonio Choc’s description to the Cape Coral Police Department as they chased him down. He was arrested for fleeing and driving without a license.
“As soon as you make that conscious decision to leave, you are now committing a crime,” FHP Lieutenant Greg Bueno said. “Even if it is just property damage.”
In this case, Aldridge is still healing from her back pain and stiff joints from the crash.
Her accident is just one of over 400,000 reported annually within our state.
“Large number when you come to think that we have about 400,000 plus traffic crashes a year and if you do the math, that means one out of basically four someone is leaving the scene,” Bueno said.
FHP said there are roughly 100,000 hit-and-runs each year. Unfortunately in many of those, someone loses a family member.
“If there is injury or death it is upgraded to a felony, which is a very, very serious criminal charge,” Bueno said.
Back in September 2023, The LaBelle community had to say goodbye to 15-year-old Eduardo Lopez Escobedo, after he was hit and killed while riding his bike along Case Road.
Bueno said this hit-and-run trend in our area needs to end.
“In the event a mistake is made, whether it’s made by you or the other party, or there’s a discrepancy of who’s at fault, you have to stay on scene,” he said.
It’s as simple as that, no matter what type of accident, Bueno said to stay and call 911.
Aldridge is grateful for the community’s help in stopping the man that could have altered her life for the worse.
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Source: abc-7
