MIAMI – A 38-year-old man was arrested over the weekend on accusations that he struck a pedestrian with his SUV in Miami and then fled the scene.
The hit-and-run crash was reported around 8 a.m. Saturday in the area of Northwest 14th Avenue and West Flagler Street.
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According to the suspect’s arrest report, a witness was heading west on Flagler when he spotted a black BMW SUV crashing into a pedestrian who was walking in the roadway.
Police said the driver of that SUV, Kevin Correa, of Miami, initially got out of his vehicle and ran over to check on the victim, but then ran back to his vehicle and took off.
According to the report, the witness initially tried to follow the SUV, but instead chose to stay with the victim and use his car as a shield to prevent approaching vehicles from striking the victim again.
The victim was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in extremely critical condition. He later died at the hospital.
Police said during the investigation, a fellow Miami police officer notified a sergeant that Correa, who is an acquaintance of his, had called him in a panic following the crash.
According to the report, the officer told Correa to stay home and wait to be contacted by police.
Officers then responded to Correa’s home and he offered to provide them with a voluntary statement, according to the report.
Police said Correa informed a detective that he was out at MILA on South Beach, celebrating his sister-in-law’s birthday and had three martinis. The remainder of his statement was redacted from the publicly released report.
Correa was arrested on a charge of leaving the scene of a crash involving a death. As of Monday afternoon, he was no longer showing in the jail database.