Felony arrest warrant issued in hit-skip

TRAFFIC FATALITY

A warrant for aggravated vehicular homicide was issued Monday for a man’s arrest after Columbus police say he struck a woman and left the scene on the city’s West Side.

Andrew Fabal, 31, of the Northeast Side, was driving a yellow 1992 Honda Civic on West Broad Street, just west of Sylvan Avenue, slightly before 11 p.m. Saturday, according to a police report. He had just left a car stereo store on West Broad Street.

Fabal, who was cited for driving without a valid driver’s license a few weeks earlier, struck 49-year-old Denise Nunziato, as she crossed West Broad Street, walking south, the report said.

Nunziato was thrown 122 feet after she was struck by the car, the report states. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fabal, who was going faster than the posted 35 miles-per-hour speed limit, did not stop, according to the report. He faces a felony charge of hit-skip.

Fabal continued to head east before making a U turn to drive past her body and return to the car stereo store, where he stored the Honda in a garage and then left, the report states. Police impounded the vehicle.

Records show that Fabal was stopped on June 26 in Franklin Township for driving a red Ford pickup on a suspended license. According to the arrest report, Fabal has had a suspended license since June 2014 for noncompliance. In the state of Ohio, a non-compliance suspension is enforced when a driver cannot provide proof of insurance, according to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles website.

Nunziato’s death marks the 27th traffic fatality in Columbus so far this year. Last year, 59 people were killed in traffic fatalities. Of those, more than a third were pedestrian deaths.