Hit-And-Run Driver Arrested
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It is unusual for a hit-and-run fatality to ever be solved. That's why we are encouraged to report that there has been an arrest in the death of Clint Malone, killed early last Saturday morning in Panama Ciity Beach by a hit-and-run driver.
20-year-old Jeremy Matthew Hunt has been charged with leaving the scene of a crash that killed someone. Hunt was driving a pick up truck and had left Salty's Hangout on Front Beach Road shortly before the crash at 6 a.m. Police believe alcohol may have been a factor. Hunt says he thought he hit a deer.
Clint Malone, 33, was on a bicycle, wearing a backpack, riding east on South Thomas Drive and accompanying his wife Jennifer who was training for the New York City Marathon. A relative, who Hunt told about the accident, called police. Meanwhile Hunt had removed the hood of his Ford Bronco that was badly damaged.
With an increasing number of driver, agitated and distracted motorists who may be intoxicated or driving on a suspended license- the feds are reporting that hit-and-run deaths have jumped 20% since 2000.
And investigators say these are among the cases that are the least likely to be solved. They often happen with no one around and in the cover of night. Of the 4,881 pedestrians killed in 2005, 974 were the result of hit-and-runs.
"It's an outrageous statistic," says Peter Kissinger, CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. He says that although the increase is difficult to explain, likely factors include more cars sharing the road with more pedestrians, and increasingly distracted and aggressive drivers.
"I think it's a sad commentary on our society," Kissinger says.
Malone was an attorney in Vero Beach. He leaves behind a wife and two children.
For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.