DORAL, Fla. – An Arkansas man faced two felony charges in South Florida after Doral police said he hit and seriously injured two motorcyclists in early April and fled the scene.
Police arrested Josiah Daniel Ortiz, 27, of Glenwood, Arkansas, on Sunday.
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According to a police report, during the late evening hours of April 6, Ortiz was driving north on Northwest 107th Avenue, near 66th Street, when he crashed his rented Toyota Camry into a motorcyclist.
The 28-year-old man riding the motorcycle was ejected and suffered a concussion and road rash, the report states.
Ortiz, listed in his arrest report as a nurse, then continued on and crashed into another motorcyclist, police said.
The 46-year-old biker from that crash was also ejected. He suffered multiple fractures and broken bones and serious internal injuries, police wrote, and was taken to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital’s trauma center.
Police said Ortiz continued driving, turning onto Northwest 74th Street and later abandoning his vehicle.
According to the report, on April 11, Ortiz called Doral police trying to figure out where the Camry was and attempted to file a stolen vehicle report.
Police said Ortiz claimed the vehicle had been stolen from an Aldi supermarket about a mile away from the scene of the crashes.
But, according to police, surveillance footage showed he was never at the store.
A confession Ortiz made during an interview at Doral police headquarters Sunday was redacted from the report.
Ortiz faced two charges of leaving the scene of a crash causing serious bodily injuries, as well as multiple traffic citations.
Jail records show he was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $100,000 bond.