MIAMI (WSVN) - The perpetrator of a hit-and-run crash in Miami that sent a moped rider to the hospital has turned herself in days after the incident, after the young woman’s aunt called police.
Armani Amelia Rodgers appeared before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ariel Rodriguez, Thursday afternoon. The judge read the charges that the 21-year-old suspect is facing.
“Leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily harm, a felony on the second degree, and leaving the scene of a crash [with] no serious injury, a felony on the third degree,” said Rodriguez.
According to Miami Fire Rescue, a 23-year-old woman was driving her moped at the intersection of Northeast 79th Street and Fifth Avenue, at around 11:30 p.m. on Monday.
It was then when, investigators said, Rodgers ran a red light, rear-ending the moped and ejecting the scooterist on impact. The red moped was left mangled in the middle of the road.
“They left her for dead,” said witness Allan Karafa.
Karafa said Rodgers and her passenger returned to the scene of the crime several times before officials arrived, allegedly taking the car’s license plate and their IDs.
“They ran through the park twice, and they came back to the car to get evidence,” he said. “They go, ‘Go back to the car! Grab the evidence!’ Grabbed their IDs and all that stuff.”
Police told 7News that Rodgers and her passenger fled the scene on foot.
According to the arrest report, the two then returned, removed the license plate from the vehicle and ran off again without rendering aid or calling for authorities.
“It was determined that the vehicle ran the red light, causing the accident at the intersection,” said MPD Officer Michael Vega at the time.
The victim is currently in the intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition after suffering a severe head injury.
Rodgers did not exactly surrender to authorities on her own. Police said on Wednesday they received a call from the owner of the car involved in the crash. She identified her niece as the driver, saying she took her car without permission.
It wasn’t until after that call that Rodgers turned himself in to police. She is facing two counts of leaving the scene of an accident and is being held on a $30,000 bond.
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