POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Polk County deputies said a Florida rapper hit a woman on a scooter early Thursday morning and drove off, moments before another vehicle hit her and the man trying to help her.
According to deputies, Kelli Black, 40, was riding an unregistered scooter on Galloway Road near Kathleen Road north of Lakeland around 2:20 a.m. Thursday. A driver struck her and fled the scene, deputies said.
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Black was killed when a second driver struck her and drove away moments after the first crash.
Deputies said the person who initially hit her is a well-known local rapper known as D.B DA KID. Polk County sheriff Grady Judd said he later spoke to the rapper, whose real name is Corey Wesley Jones.
Jones, 20, was arrested Thursday afternoon on charges of leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injury and reckless driving with serious bodily injury.
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Deputies said as Black lay injured, Kalen Lawson, 20, an active duty member of the U.S. Army from Ft. Hood, Texas, stopped to help her.
As Lawson was trying to help Black, a second vehicle struck the two then drove away, deputies said.
The crashes happened only about a minute apart, deputies said.
Deputies said the second vehicle is a light-colored Ford F-150 pickup truck, but could be a similar make or model. Investigators have not identified the driver of that vehicle.
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Black died at the scene after being struck by the second vehicle. Lawson (pictured below) was transported to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center with an injured leg and is expected to survive.
Kalen Lawson, a soldier in the US Army, is our hero-he’s the Good Samaritan who stopped with his friend Markell Grant to help Kelly Black, who was struck and killed early this AM on N Galloway Rd in north #Lakeland. We’re still searching for the suspect. Kalen has a broken leg. pic.twitter.com/Iu3DXcGQC3
— Polk County Sheriff (@PolkCoSheriff) August 2, 2018
"It mortifies me to think that two people would over and leave for dead someone in the middle of the road," said Judd. "All of us have a fundamental moral responsibility to stop when involved in a crash. It's just basic human decency -- and it's the law."
Anyone with information about either of the accidents is asked to call the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at 863-298-6200.
Watch below: Surveillance video of the two hit-and-run crashes
(Source: Polk Co. Sheriff's Office)
#Breaking: We’re looking for a hit-and-run suspect who killed a woman on a scooter around 2:20 am this morning, on Galloway Rd in north #Lakeland. The truck is most likely a white/light colored Ford F-150 but possibly another make/model. Call @heartlandcs pic.twitter.com/ePn8RQ1vRh
— Polk County Sheriff (@PolkCoSheriff) August 2, 2018
Location of the crash investigation:
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