LAKE COUNTY, FLA. — Police have arrested a man they say was the hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a pedestrian trying to wave traffic around a tow truck Monday.
The Florida Highway Patrol announced Thursday that it had arrested Charles M. Ramirez, 49, of Davenport. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing death.
Witnesses told troopers a vehicle they believed to be a white Kia Soul with Indiana license plates, was going south on U.S. Highway 27 and approaching Margaux Drive in the outside lane at 6:52 p.m. The tow truck was stopped partially in the outside lane and shoulder to assist the man with his car, according to the FHP.
The car hit the man, slamming him into the tow truck driver’s side mirror, then turned onto Margaux where it hit a decorative stone in the median. The car then went back to U.S. 27 and continued fleeing southbound.