Suspect Arrested in Fatal Lake County Hit-and-Run Motorcycle Accident

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on May 28, 2021

According to preliminary arrest records from the Leesburg Police Department, a 35-year-old individual has been charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash involving death, and driving with a suspended license involving death for his alleged connection to a deadly hit-and-run accident which claimed the life of a 47-year-old motorcyclist this past Wednesday evening near Montclair Road in Lake County.

It was approximately 3:45 a.m. on May 26^th, 2021, when officers with the Leesburg Police Department were dispatched to the scene of a severe motorcycle accident close to the intersection of Lone Oak Drive and Montclair Road. As local law enforcement arrived at the crash site, they quickly found 47-year-old Joseph McMurrey suffering from serious, life-threatening injuries. Lake County emergency responders stabilized the victim and immediately transported him to the closest hospital, however, his injuries proved to be too severe to recover from and he passed away shortly after arriving at the medical facility.

After Mr. McMurrey was safely secured and exited the crash site by ambulance, deputies with the Leesburg Police Department started their investigation of the motorcycle accident. Based on the lack of other vehicles in the vicinity of the accident, as well as the surmounting physical evidence including a “fluid substance” and ‘Honda’ nameplate discovered by deputies, authorities were able to determine that this was actually a hit-and-run accident involving a motorcyclist. After combing through local traffic cams, officers identified a suspicious white Honda and tracked the vehicle back to the residence of 35-year-old Pierre Lambaren Resendez.

Lake County arrest affidavits indicate that Resendez initially told officers that the Honda was his wife’s car and he was unsure of how the damage occurred. After requesting to speak with his wife, Resendez then said that she was in the hospital and that maybe someone had stolen her car while she was there. Realizing that there was perhaps more to this story, authorities asked to speak with the couple’s children – an 8-year-old and a 12-year-old. The kids confirmed the officer’s suspicions and when he was confronted with this new information, Resendez finally confessed – stating that he wasn’t wearing his glasses and was “blinded by the solar glare” when he crashed into what he believed to be an animal. Despite the Honda’s airbag deployment and incredible damage to the front-end of the vehicle, Resendez did not stop after the accident.

Sources:

• Leesburg man admits to hit-and-run, claims he thought he hit animal, police say

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.