COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – A Coconut Creek woman was speeding down Lyons Road with THC in her system when she struck and killed a man crossing the street and fled the scene, according to police.
Tatiana Ariella Cruz, 21, is now facing multiple charges in connection with the January crash. Coconut Creek police arrested her Wednesday.
According to an arrest report, much of which was redacted by the Broward State Attorney’s Office, Cruz struck and killed the pedestrian, later identified as Marc Robin, 69, of Tamarac, as he crossed the 4200 block of Lyons Road just before 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 14.
Cruz’s 2016 Toyota Corolla “sustained major damage” after hitting Robin, police said, with his body and head shattering the windshield, but investigators accuse her of going home instead of stopping.
Robin, neighbors said, was celebrating his birthday weekend when he was killed. Neighbors said he was a “nice guy” who helped others.
The unredacted portions of the arrest report don’t state how fast Cruz was driving or how or exactly when police located her. It does state that she was driving at an “unsafe speed” and was not wearing her corrective lenses.
Authorities said she would have avoided the crash had she not been speeding.
It also states that police were able to conduct a voluntary blood draw the night of the incident, which revealed THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, in her system.
Online records show that Cruz was being held in the Broward Main Jail on a $50,000 bond on charges of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crash causing death, along with charges of careless driving and violating driver’s license restrictions.