A Lakeland man who struck and killed a student while fleeing the scene of another crash was arrested at the Brandon Mall on Wednesday, troopers say.
It started in Polk County at about 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, when Edgardo Joel Rosado Perez, 41, was dropping off his daughter at Bartow High School, the Florida Highway Patrol said in a news release. Perez was involved in a “minor crash” with a Chevrolet SUV, and he fled the scene in a 2018 Hyundai sedan, troopers say.
Perez was driving north on South Jackson Avenue near East Pearl Street “at a high rate of speed” when troopers say he struck an 18-year-old Bartow High School student who was walking to school. Perez fled the scene of that crash, too, and the student died of his injuries, the news release states.
Perez’s Hyundai was later found parked in a garage at his home in Polk County, the news release states. Troopers learned he had fled in a blue 2017 Ford Fiesta, and they sought the public’s help in locating the vehicle.
Hillsborough deputies later found the Ford Fiesta parked at the Brandon Mall, and Perez was inside the building.
Perez was arrested by the Highway Patrol and taken to the Hillsborough County jail, according to the news release. His booking information was not immediately available.