DAVIE, Fla. – Police arrested a former Nova Southeastern University student Monday, about seven months after they said he hit and seriously injured a victim crossing the street near the college’s Davie campus and left the scene before first responders showed up.
Vincent Walla, 19, of Staten Island, New York, was booked into the Broward Main Jail on a charge of leaving the scene of a crash causing serious bodily injury, a second-degree felony.
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A police report identified Walla as an NSU student, however, a university spokesperson said Walla was no longer attending the school at the time of his arrest Monday, having withdrawn a few months prior.
According to Davie police, the crash happened at around 6:30 p.m. on March 30 at the intersection of Southwest 36th Street and South University Drive, across from HCA Florida University Hospital.
A probable cause affidavit states that Walla, driving a black Ford Mustang with a woman in the passenger’s seat, hit the victim as he was crossing South University Drive.
The affidavit states that surveillance footage showed Walla driving a few feet, then coming to a stop. Police said two people were seen on the video moving the victim to the northeast corner of the intersection, then driving off about five minutes before officers showed up.
Police said Walla had called 911 after the crash and identified himself, telling the dispatcher “Um, the light turned, he started crossing the street and got hit.”
In the tape, police said a male voice is overheard saying “Do you want any money? Do you need an ambulance?”
“A second voice, possibly the victim(’)s voice, is indistinctly heard saying ‘No, I’m fine,’ and ‘I’m fine, I can move my shoulder,’” Officer Anet Milian wrote in the affidavit.
It turned out, however, that the victim suffered an epidural hematoma — a life-threatening brain bleed that usually develops from a skull fracture — and a fractured collarbone, the police report states.
As the 911 recording continued, Milian wrote that the dispatcher asked Walla for the color, make and model of the vehicle three times. The officer said Walla never responded and eventually hung up and didn’t answer the phone when a dispatcher called him back.
Milian wrote that she called Walla’s number while at the scene, and a “male voice stated that he didn’t witness the crash and didn’t want any involvement.”
That same person, police said, told another officer that he believed the responsible vehicle was a blue, four-door sedan.
A witness to the crash, who briefly stopped to help, identified Walla from a photo lineup conducted in May, police said. Authorities would issue a warrant for his arrest in July, according to court records.
Walla, following his arrest Monday, was being held on a $10,000 bond as of Tuesday morning.
Editor’s note: A spokesperson for Nova Southeastern University later clarified that Walla was no longer an NSU student at the time of his arrest Monday. The article has since been updated.