OPA-LOCKA, Fla. – The man found dead on the side of Northwest 27th Avenue in Opa-locka in mid-November was a hit-and-run victim, police said. The driver accused of leaving the scene turned himself in on Thursday.
Fredrick Lonell Nelson, who lives in the city, is now facing a felony charge of leaving the scene of a crash involving death.
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According to Miami-Dade police, the deadly wreck happened at around 3:15 a.m. on Nov. 15 and was caught on surveillance video.
Police said Nelson, 40, was driving someone else’s 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe and hit the man as he crossed near Northwest 147th Street.
The impact “struck and vaulted the victim across the roadway,” an arrest report states. But police said Nelson kept on driving.
The “helpless” victim, who wasn’t identified in the report, laid dead on the side of the road for three hours before a passerby discovered his body, authorities said.
About six hours later, police were able to track down the Tahoe to the registered owner’s address in Miami Gardens and impounded it.
Twenty minutes after police arrived at the home, they said Nelson showed up with the keys to the vehicle. Authorities said detectives spoke with the SUV’s owner on the phone, who told them that Nelson was driving the vehicle.
Afterward, police tried to speak with Nelson but he ran away, the report states. In the meantime, authorities said multiple Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers tips identified him as the driver.
Police said they conducted a search of the Tahoe on Dec. 3 which yielded multiple personal belongings, including a notebook with Nelson’s full name. Additionally, they said cellphone data placed him at the scene of the crash.
The report states that in a phone call three days later, Nelson’s attorney said that his client claimed that the man had “jumped in front” of him.
Nelson and his attorney went to Miami-Dade police headquarters in Doral Thursday afternoon and he was taken into custody without incident, police said.
As of Friday, he was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $25,000 bond.
If released, Nelson will be on house arrest with GPS monitoring, jail records show.