Inset: Keila Isabel Maldonado (Broward County Jail). Background: Sheridan Street near SE 2nd Avenue in Dania Beach, Florida, where Maldonado allegedly struck a scooter rider and fled (WSVN).
A Florida woman allegedly struck and killed a man riding a scooter before leaving the scene and driving to the dealership where she worked in an apparent attempt to have the damaged vehicle repaired without notifying police.
Keila Isabel Maldonado, 21, faces charges of failing to stop at the scene of an accident involving death and tampering with evidence.
According to a probable cause affidavit, deputies with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office responded at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday to a fatal hit-and-run involving a pedestrian on Sheridan Street near SE 2nd Avenue in Dania Beach.
The victim, whose identity was not released, died from injuries sustained in the crash.
At the scene, investigators found debris believed to have come from a late-model Hyundai Sonata.
Later that day, a security manager at Lexus of North Miami contacted police about a possible suspect and vehicle. The manager told investigators that Maldonado, who worked at the dealership, had brought a 2025 Hyundai Sonata in to ask about repairs, according to the affidavit.
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The Sonata had damage to its front passenger-side bumper and windshield. Detectives also reported seeing what appeared to be “blood and human tissue” on the vehicle.
Maldonado allegedly told co-workers that she had been driving the Sonata when she struck a person on a scooter. Instead of calling 911, she drove into a nearby shopping plaza and watched as police officers and paramedics arrived to assist the victim, deputies wrote.
After receiving her Miranda rights, Maldonado told investigators that she remained in the parking lot for about an hour but never identified herself as the driver, the affidavit states.
She reportedly said she had taken the rental vehicle from the dealership without permission to spend the day at a beach near Hollywood. Maldonado allegedly decided to leave at about 1 a.m. and acknowledged striking the scooter rider, failing to call 911 and not speaking with responding officers, according to the affidavit.
Investigators determined that the damage to the Sonata was consistent with the debris recovered at the crash site, authorities allegedly said.
Maldonado was arrested and booked into the Broward County Jail, where she remained held on a $51,000 bond. Her next court appearance had not been listed.
The post Florida driver accused of striking and killing scooter rider, then taking damaged car to dealership, first appeared on Law & Crime.
