Single Crimeline tip leads to man's arrest 7 months after deadly hit-and-run, FHP says

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol have arrested a man suspected of a deadly hit-and-run.

Cpl. Chris Durrance arrested Victor Baradit Fernandez, 59, of Orlando, Friday.

Margarita Contreras, 58, of Boca Raton, was run over Oct. 1 by a northbound passenger vehicle on Orange Blossom Trail south of the Osceola Parkway around 1:15 a.m.

Contreras had been in an accident just prior to being hit. She had pulled her car into a nearby parking lot and went back out in the roadway because she believed she’d dropped her wallet, troopers said.

Troopers received only one anonymous Crimeline tip, and that led to the arrest of Contreras, investigators said.

Troopers said in a news release that they wanted to stress the importance of people calling in tips because it was this one tip that led to the man’s arrest.

Fernandez faces one count of leaving the scene of a crash involving death and driving without a driver’s license causing death.

Cox Media Group