LAKELAND, Fla.—An executive at MIDFLORIDA CU has been arrested after he was allegedly involved in a deadly hit-and-run.
Polk County Police have arrested Jarvis Kendrick, 37, a VP at the credit union has been charged with leaving the scene of a crash and tampering with evidence. Authorities claim that on Oct. 6 Kendrick left the accident scene where a 74-year-old woman was killed.
On the morning of the accident Janis Joy was walking along Duff Road in Lakeland when she was struck and killed by what deputies allege was a Ford pickup truck, which was last seen heading east from the scene toward U.S. Highway 98, FOX13 News reported.
An anonymous tip initially led detectives to Kendrick. Sheriff Grady Judd said Kendrick flew to Canada the day after the accident. Detectives allege he later staged a crash on Interstate 4 in order to explain the damage to his vehicle.
Grady told FOX13 News that had Kendrick not allegedly fled the accident scene, he might not have faced any criminal charges or even received a traffic citation.
"But when you hit that lady and you left that human being to die in the road – alone – and you fled, you committed a first-degree felony, for which we are going to do our very best to send you to prison for a very long time,” Judd told the news station.