Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Woman arrested in hit-run death
COCONUT CREEK — Bond was set Wednesday at $250,000 for a woman who was arrested in connection with the hitand-run death of a man in the driveway of the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek.
Nadia Pierre-Louis, 25, of North Lauderdale, was booked into the Broward Main Jail on one count of failure to stop and remain at an accident involving a death. She was arrested at 4:48 p.m. Tuesday, said Sgt. Henry Cabrera of the Coconut Creek Police Department.
Jay Edelstein was hit from behind about 6 a.m. Dec. 29 in the driveway of the casino. He suffered head and leg trauma, officials said.
“I have to return to New Jersey ... and I really wanted an arrest before I had to go,” Edelstein’s sister, Sheryl DiDomenico, said Tuesday night about 30 minutes after police called and informed her of the arrest. “I understand accidents, but I cannot comprehend how somebody could hit someone and just leave them lying there. It’s horrible.”
By 11 p.m. the same day Edelstein was hit, police had located a gray 2003 Toyota Corolla described by witnesses. The car was at an address in North Lauderdale, police said.
Edelstein wasn’t a drinker but he frequented a small casino bar where he would order coffee and chat with friends. He used the Seminole Casino as his social club, a Hollywood friend, Karen Tarte, told the Sun Sentinel.
Edelstein was the former owner of a Fort Lauderdale business that installed insulation. He had just moved to a new apartment and was feeling good, said his brother, Mitch Edelstein, of Boynton Beach.
During a bond court hearing Wednesday, and speaking through a Creole interpreter, Pierre-Louis said she lives with a relative and works as a housekeeper.
While setting her bond at a quarter-million dollars, Broward Judge Michael Davis noted that, according to investigators, Pierre-Louis sent a text message to her employer after the crash saying she intended to go back to Haiti.
“It’s clear to this court, Miss Pierre-Louis intended to flee our jurisdiction knowing that she had been driving a motor vehicle, hit and killed someone,” Davis said.
He also ordered that Pierre-Louis surrender her passport and her permanent U.S. residency card, commonly called a “green card.”