Mason Chapman was been arrested on Feb 24, 2021, for a Vehicular Homicide traffic crash involving a single vehicle near Kathleen Road and West 2nd Street on Aug 8, 2020.
According to reports, a 2002 Chevy pick-up was traveling northbound on Kathleen Road, approaching West 2nd Street when the driver lost control of the vehicle. The truck began sliding on the roadway before hitting a curb and striking a utility pole. The impact caused the truck to flip on its roof, landing in the roadway of West 2nd Street.
Inside the vehicle were three teenagers; the driver age 16, and two passengers, one age 16, and the other age 15.
The Lakeland Police Department Patrol Unit, Polk County Fire Rescue, and the Lakeland Fire Department all arrived on the scene and began to provide life-saving measures. The male driver and the front-seat female passenger, who were both wearing seatbelts, sustained minor injuries. The female rear passenger, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was unresponsive at the scene and sustained serious injuries.
All occupants were transported to Lakeland Regional Health for treatment. Officers were informed Sunday afternoon that the 16-year-old passenger Alexandra Christina Saldana succumbed to her injuries shortly after 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
Currently Mason Chapman is out on bond.
Was he arrested and charged because she was not wearing a seatbelt? Or was he impaired?