Deputies: Driver was trying to call wife when he hit jogger

A Haines City man was fumbling with his cellphone last week when he hit a 17-year-old jogger with his pickup truck, leaving the teenager with a fractured skull.

Mario Lopez-Morales, 23, is charged with evidence tampering and leaving the scene of a crash with bodily injury and property damage.

Lopez-Morales is accused of hitting Adam Schumacher on April 3 on Crest Drive in Haines City, leaving him with fractures to his skull and a sprained ankle. He is also accused of hitting a parked van while driving away.

“We are grateful that Adam will make a full recovery, and that this suspect will be held accountable for hitting and leaving Adam for dead,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.

Anonymous tipsters led detectives to Lopez-Morales’ black 1997 Ford F-150 truck, which was parked at a friend’s house, deputies said. The friend said LopezMorales told him he hit a pole, then flew to Las Vegas for work.

Deputies called Lopez-Morales in Las Vegas, records show. He said he was going to turn himself in, which he did after landing Saturday at Orlando International Airport.

Lopez-Morales said he got into a fight with his wife before the crash. He was driving around looking for her and “was fumbling with his phone while driving,” trying to call her, deputies said. He realized he hit a person but got scared and drove away, deputies said.

Lopez-Morales is being held in the Polk County Jail, with bail set at $13,000.