Cops find bottles of alcohol in driver’s car
Woman accused in fatal 4th of July crash
A Clermont woman accused of fatally hitting a pedestrian on Orange Blossom Trail Thursday had open alcohol bottles in her SUV, an arrest affidavit said.
Lazeya Destiny Rivera, 22, was arrested on charges of third-degree murder, DUI manslaughter, driving with a suspended license and a DUI with property damage or personal injury, troopers wrote in the affidavit.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Rivera was driving a red Dodge Durango north on Orange Blossom Trail around 3 a.m. when she stopped to let 39-year-old Nostaky Exantus, of Winter Park, cross the road near 41st Street.
But Extanus turned around and began walking back, not in the crosswalk.
Rivera made an abrupt U-turn into the southbound lanes, went across the median and back into the northbound lanes, FHP said. She hit Extanus with the front of her SUV, drove off the road and crashed into a business at 4105 S. Orange Blossom Trail. A passenger in the SUV was not seriously injured.
Troopers said they found alcohol bottles in Rivera’s Dodge Durango, as well as “a smell of marijuana,” the affidavit said.
The report did not detail the kind of alcohol or if the bottles were empty.
Six hours later when troopers interviewed Rivera at Orlando Regional Medical Center, she still had a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her mouth,” slurred speech and
bloodshot eyes, according to the report.
FHP is still looking for the driver of a 2017 black Lexus that struck three men who tried to help Exantus, killing one man and leaving another in critical condition.
The second deadly crash on Orange Blossom Trail killed 32-year-old Damion Bradford of Apopka and sent a 38-year-old man to ORMC with critical injuries.
The 38-year-old has not been identified by FHP.
The third man who stopped to aid Exantus, 42-year-old Jermaine Johnson, suffered minor injuries. The driver of the Lexus fled the scene without stopping, FHP said.
Troopers say an Orange County deputy tried to pull over the Lexus for speeding about a minute before the fatal crash, but the driver fled.
The Lexus has a Florida tag number LLTC87 and is believed to have front end damage. The agency was still searching for the vehicle Friday and asking anyone with information to call FHP at 407-737-2213.
Rivera was being held Friday at the Orange County jail on $10,400 bond.