Cops: Driver hit motorcyclist, woman who stopped to help
Both victims dead in pair of hit-and-runs on Sanford roadway
A driver who fled after striking a motorcyclist on a Sanford roadway Monday was also responsible for a second hit-and-run crash, in which he struck a good Samaritan who had stropped to help after the initial collision, police said.
Michael John Kraft, 37, was arrested late Monday in the hit-and-runs, which left both the motorcyclist and the good Samaritan dead. Investigators suspect he was intoxicated when the crashes occurred and he did not stop or call for help after either of them, Sanford Police spokeswoman Bianca Gillett said.
Vincent Russo, 73, was riding his motorcycle when Kraft’s blue four-door Jaguar struck him as the two vehicles traveled east on State Road 46 in Sanford, near Summerlin Avenue, police said. Kraft continued to drive eastbound, but later made a U-turn and returned back to the crash scene.
By that point, pedestrian Jenica Campbell had stopped to assist the motorcyclist, Gillett said.
As Kraft neared the scene again, police said he veered out of westbound traffic lanes, drove through the median into oncoming traffic and hit Campbell, 39.
Kraft again continued driving, eventually going off the road, hitting a fence and stopping in a trench, where officers immediately detained him, his arrest report said.
Officers did not initially realize Kraft had also been involved in the first hit-andrun, but later connected him to both crashes through their investigation and witness interviews, Gillett said.
Both Russo and Campbell died of their injuries.
Upon arrest, officers noted Kraft was “lethargic, slow to respond..., his eyes were bloodshot and appeared to be droopy,” the report said. He refused to submit to a field sobriety test, but officers noticed “obvious signs of impairment ... by alcohol, chemical or controlled substances,” the report said.
He later submitted to a urine test, which found he was under the influence of an unidentified stimulant. Officers indicated that the drug, coupled with an unspecified mental illness, left Kraft unable to operate a vehicle safely, the report said. The report did not go into details about the stimulant or possible mental illness, but said a warrant for additional blood tests was secured.
Kraft is facing two charges of leaving the scene of a crash with fatal injuries, two counts of hit-and-run, and one count of refusal to submit to DUI test after license is suspended.
Campbell was a wife, mother of four, and active member of her church in
Sanford, friends said.
“There isn’t much I can say in this moment other than she was a a beautiful soul who exuded light and the love of God to everyone she met,” her husband wrote about her on a GoFundMe page created Tuesday. He asked for support for their family in their time of grief.
Robert King, a fellow member of the Action Church in Sanford, said Campbell was always volunteering and helping out at the church.
“She had a passion for people, she was always there welcoming new faces,” King said. “The story itself is tragic, but the action that Jenica was taking [when she was killed] does not surprise any of us, any of us at all.”
Investigators are still asking anyone who witnessed the crashes or might have video to contact the Sanford Police Department at 407-688-5070.