MIAMI (WSVN) — A South Florida man who was charged in a deadly hit and run, walked out of court a free man.
Willie Pitts pleaded no contest to the hit and run accident of Philogene Charles in North Miami Beach on Feb. 23 at the intersection of Northwest 12th Avenue and 134th Street.
Pitts was booked into the Miami-Dade County Jail following the accident on charges of driving under the influence, DUI with serious bodily injury and leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injury.
Charles’ daughters were in tears Tuesday after hearing the man who they believe killed their father, would not receive jail time and only be convicted with driving while physically impaired. “My dad was a great dad,” Joane Charles said. “I was more of a daddy’s girl. He was there for us, and we really cared about him.”
The daughters stood in front of a judge at the Metro Justice Building hoping for justice on behalf of their father. “I don’t like the fact that he’s gone,” Sherrice Charles, another of Charles’ daughter said, “because we will never see him again.”
Though Pitts was found guilty of driving while physically impaired, Pitts left Tuesday a free man. A result the daughters were not hoping to see. “We can’t do anything about it,” Joane Charles said. “We wanted him to go to jail, but there’s no proof or anything.”
Pitts license will be revoked for six months and is required to pay a $500 fine.
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