Crime Stoppers Tips Lead to Woman’s Arrest in Fatal Jacksonville Hit-and-Run Accident
We wrote about this sad story in September 2009 in which an Egyptian student who attended graduate school at the University of North Florida was riding a scooter home about 2:15 a.m. in Jacksonville when he was hit and killed by a hit-and-run driver. News4Jax.com reports that thanks to several Crime Stoppers tips, a woman believed to have been responsible for the Florida hit-and-run accident has been arrested by the FHP. A 20-year-old woman from Atlantic Beach was arrested last May and charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death, driving with a suspended license and traveling 69 mph in a 45 mph zone on Beach Boulevard the morning of the fatal crash.
The young woman pled guilty last month and now faces up to 10 years in prison. The 24-year-old graduate student was rear-ended on his scooter and lying in the eastbound lane of Beach Boulevard when he was hit by a second car. FHP troopers say that driver also left the scene but the 22-year-old driver of that car called authorities later and reported he had run over something in the road but didn’t know what it was. Crime Stoppers had received several tips which led them to the young woman’s car in Orlando.
Leaving the scene of an accident with injuries or a fatality automatically turns the act into a crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Unfortunately, Florida is among the top three states in the number of hit-and run incidents. With nearly 700,000 hit-and-run reports each year in the nation, the Jacksonville car accident lawyers at the Farah & Farah law firm has joined Hit-and-Run Reward, a national program financed exclusively by American personal injury attorneys who believe if you report a hit-and-run driver you will not only feel good by keeping a dangerous driver off the road, but you could receive a financial reward of $1,000 for anyone you turn in who is later convicted of the hit-and-run. This program is offered in addition to the Crime Stoppers reward program, so doing the right thing could yield you $2,000. The number for Hit-and-Run Reward is 1-800-644-8678.
