Arrest Made in Fatal Orlando Hit-and-Run Bicycle Accident

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on July 26, 2018

On June 27th, 2018, almost a month ago to the day, a local Orlando man was involved in a fatal hit-and-run collision during his early morning bicycle commute to work when an SUV driving eastbound on Colonial Drive slammed into him from behind.

The victim, forty-nine year-old Arias, began his daily routine of cycling to work, just as he would any other day of the week, travelling down East Colonial Drive, a notoriously busy stretch of road between Third Street & State Road 520. The bicycle accident occurred at approximately 6:30 a.m. near its intersection with Berkeley Street when the 2007 Honda SUV driven by Strickland, 43, of Mims, Florida, crashed into the rear-end of Arias’ bicycle. The impact of the collision was so forceful that it propelled the victim off of his bike and into a roadside ditch filled with rainwater. A local businessman made the grisly discovery and promptly contacted the local authorities.

Florida Highway Patrol recovered a piece of the offending SUV’s grill at the scene of the accident, having apparently snapped off at the time of the collision. This would become a key piece of evidence in identifying the vehicle once they located it. Additionally, investigators gathered a number of security surveillance video from local businesses in the surrounding vicinity, with the hopes that they would catch the fatal accident on tape. This information, plus an outpouring of tips on the CRIMELINE helped authorities to positively ID Strickland once he turned himself in to the Cocoa Florida Highway Patrol station. Furthermore, he also told police that he recalled being in the area at the time of the accident, but thought that he had run over a construction barrel, not a person. Mr. Arias was wearing a reflective vest at the time of his death.

“I think that his guilty conscience got the best of him and probably with me appearing on TV and all my friends and family and all my support system…I think he had no choice but to turn himself in,” Arias, the victim’s wife, said in a statement to the press. Strickland has been charged with leaving the scene of a traffic crash, involving a death and driving while license suspended, with knowledge, causing death.

Read More:
After hit-and-run suspect’s arrest, victim’s wife wants to warn other bicyclists
Man on bicycle killed in hit-and-run crash, officials say
Arrest made in fatal Orange County hit and run

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.