Police search for second driver after crashes kill two
A 22-year-old Clermont woman has been arrested and police are searching for the driver of a black Lexus after two men were killed early Thursday in two crashes on Orange Blossom Trail south of downtown Orlando.
One of the men killed was helping a man who had been struck by an SUV in an earlier crash, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Officials are looking for a black Lexus with front-end damage. An Orange County deputy tried to pull over a speeding 2017 black four-door Lexus within about a minute of the second crash at Orange Blossom Trail and Holden Avenue, less than a mile from where the two men were killed. The driver fled, and FHP now thinks that vehicle may have hit the men. The agency is searching for the vehicle, which has Florida tag number LLTC87.
The chain of events started just after 3 a.m. Lazeya Rivera was driving a Dodge SUV north on OBT when FHP says she struck 39-year-old Nostaky Exantus of Winter Park, who was crossing the road near 41st Street, according to a report.
Rivera initially stopped for Exantus, the report said. But then he turned around and walked back across the street and Rivera made a sudden U-turn into the southbound lanes, across the median, and back across the northbound lanes. The front of her SUV struck the man, who wasn’t in a crosswalk. Rivera then drove off the road and hit the front of a business located at 4105 S. Orange Blossom Trail.
Rivera has been arrested and charged with third degree murder, DUI manslaughter, and driving with a suspended license, according to FHP. She was being held Thursday at the Orange County jail.
A couple of minutes later, three men stopped to help Exantus, according to an FHP report. A Lexus hit the men, killing 32-year-old Damion Bradford of Apopka. Another, a 38-year-old Orlando man who has not been identified publicly, is in critical condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center. The third man, 42-year-old Jermaine Johnson of Orlando, had minor injuries.
The crash is under investigation.
Anyone with information about the Lexus is asked to contact the agency at 407-737-2213 or Crimeline.