4-year-old killed in hit-and-run in Florida Publix parking lot, police say
A Florida man has been arrested after police say he struck and killed a 4-year-old while driving through a shopping center parking lot and then fled the scene.
Kenneth Ray Martinez, 62, was apprehended at his home in Panama City Beach less than a mile from the Publix parking lot where the hit-and-run occurred about an hour earlier, police said.
He’s accused of fleeing the scene “without reporting the crash or rendering aid to the injured child,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
At around 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29, Martinez was driving a black Ford pick-up truck with Texas license plates in the area of the Publix supermarket in a Panama City Beach shopping center, according to the affidavit. Police received a call around that time from a caller reporting that a young child had been run over by a vehicle in the Publix parking lot, the affidavit states.
When first responders arrived, the child was pronounced dead, according to the affidavit. The driver had fled the scene.
Officers located the suspect’s vehicle on an online database and found the license plate was registered to Martinez. Police responded to Martinez’s address, but no one answered after several knocks. Eventually, Martinez came to the door and was taken to the Panama City Police Department, the affidavit says.
Officers executed a search warrant at Martinez’s home and found a Publix receipt inside a trash can. A witness who said she was on the phone with Martinez at the time of the crash told police that Martinez said he was driving and had just hit a dog while at Publix.
Martinez has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident with bodily injury/death, according to Bay County court records.
During an interview, Martinez refused to talk to police about the incident and requested a lawyer, the report states.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 5:38 PM with the headline "4-year-old killed in hit-and-run in Florida Publix parking lot, police say."