Did you hear about this one?
In Tuesday’s print edition, the St. Pete Times says a Tampa hit-and-run death stymies police:
Three months ago, a driver in an SUV killed a woman crossing a South Tampa street and fled.
It happened Feb. 8, at 8:27 p.m. on a Sunday. Melissa Sjostrom, 33 and homeless, was limping across Hyde Park Avenue, when traffic caught up with her.
…Within hours, Tampa police had connected a red paint chip from the scene to a Nissan Murano with front end damage parked in front of a million-dollar Davis Islands home.The paint flake from the crime scene fit “just like a jigsaw puzzle,” an officer wrote in a report.
… investigators used the SUV’s Sunpass transponder to determine that the vehicle entered the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway in the Brandon area and exited at the Plant Avenue toll booth three blocks from the scene, minutes before the crash. Tinted windows on the SUV made it impossible to see the driver in toll booth video, but the car showed no damage.
Sounds like an episode of CSI, huh? Let’s get to the part where they arrest the driver.
Jordan Valdez, 17, is a student at Academy of Holy Names. She lives two miles from the scene of the crash, with her family, who own Manhattan Hairstyling Academy.
… the Nissan was the teen’s “normally used car,” but her parents had access to it.
“At this point, there are no further investigative leads to be able to independently identify Jordan Valdez as the suspect driver,” Powell wrote in his report. Police closed the case. “If we had the evidence to make an arrest, we would have made one,” said police spokeswoman Andrea Davis. With new evidence, an arrest could still come. “We can prove the vehicle [was] used in the hit and run, but we can’t prove who was driving the car,” she said.
Leaving the scene of an accident involving death is a first-degree felony in Florida. But Powell cited the teen with careless driving.
A ticket which was dismissed on Tuesday, because the Tampa police detective who investigated the case, Robert D. Powell, failed to appear in court…
So, a homeless woman is run over by a car belonging to the owners of the Manhattan Hairstyling Academy, who live in a “million-dollar home” on Davis Islands, and Tampa Police cannot make the arrest?
If they don’t have enough to arrest the girl, then I’d say it is incumbent on TPD to FIND more evidence one way or another.
This stinks all around.
Sam
10 months ago
If it had been the other way around, the “homeless” woman hitting the one from Davis Islands, the less fortunate one would be in a jail cell.
Meredith
10 months ago
Heck, you don’t even need to be rich — you can be a dance teacher and skate on a hit and run charge. Tampa seems to lightly on felony drivers. Law enforcement and real estate developers appear to agree, cars are more important than people.
Tino
10 months ago
I had something similar happen to me. A drunk driver hit my car and drove off. I got the license plate, but couldn’t pick the driver out of a lineup. No charges filed. The lesson? If you are drunk and hit something, get the heck out of there.
Jerome
10 months ago
The homeless person had a limp and was jaywalking at night time, while on cocaine that day. Seems to me like the homeless womans fault. The teenage girl did what most people her age would do. She has enough to live with as it is arresting would be overdone for something that was not her fault and out of her control.
Christine
10 months ago
The girl would have not gotten into trouble if she would have stopped in the first place. Way to go on the responsible parenting and teaching their daughter that there are no consequences for her actions. That woman could have been anybody, and not just “a homeless woman”.
Mary
10 months ago
To Jerome. Melissa was 3/4 the way accross the road when hit. She had a limp because she had a form of MS. She didn’t just step off the curb. Why are you assuming the driver was not using drugs or alcohol? We will never know since the driver was never tested.
Anonymous
10 months ago
She wasn’t on drugs or under the influence alcohol considering that she was just coming back from cheerleading practice.
TOO SMART LEAVE NAME
10 months ago
Why send your child to a christian school, when most parents of wealth have trained their kids to not stop for fear of getting the due process. Just cause you just came from cheerleader practice doesn’t mean driver wasn’t on any substance. Besides with the family having money who’s to say she was the true driver? Wake up….money is the root of evil for those with no morals! The moral thing was to call for help for the lady if not stopping. I hope their souls are tortured for eternity! Oops..not the christian thing to say.
jason
10 months ago
One witness actually ID’d the car as a black suv with a hispanic male driver and a different tag.
The other said she wasn’t able to see the driver at all.
Without an admission from the teen there is no way to prove who the driver was. I read this in TBT when it came out and was trying to figure out what the ‘Outrage’ was exactly. The case was weak, the cops impounded the car that night and had two witnesses giving contradictory info. Even if they can prove the SUV on Davis was the one that hit her, difficult with one witness saying it wasn’t, they can’t prove who was driving. This case recalls the Jessica Porter case since she has been back in the news recently but porter admitted to driving the car in her case. This girl has not. Also keep in mind had she stopped that day nothing different would have happened. That poor woman would still have died. The pedestrian would have still been at fault (unless the teen was drunk or otherwise impaired) and the insurance company would have still paid out the mother.
So what, other than a lack of the understanding of right and wrong on the part of the teen and her family and their relative wealth in comparison to the victim, is the outrage?
jason
10 months ago
Jennifer Porter, whatever that heffers name is.
too smart to leave name
10 months ago
5 (FIVE) BLACK KIDS HIT & RUN, ROBBER RUN DOWN IN FRONT OF FEDERAL BUILDING, HOMELESS WOMAN HIT AND RUN…COMMON DENOMINATOR…MINORITIES DEAD, WHITE DRIVERS WITH MORE THAN A MIDDLE AMERICAN INCOME ALL GO FREE
Dogs killed – TALENTED FAMOUS BLACK MAN – SENT TO PRISON
JUSTICE (PRONOUNCED JUST-US) FOR WEALTHY WHITE AMERICA
Give me a break Tampa FL is so unjust! At least with seperation poor, minorities and blacks knew who the enemy was now you all smile in everyones face but have two sets of LAWS!
too smart to leave name
10 months ago
Let’s just say where is the driver (whoever) moral compass? Known fact…WEALTHY are told to always leave seen of serious accident if possible. Let the lawyers and all the other people they pay to lie (two eye witness); eye witness are the worse cause confusion. Why are we blowing up the cross town expressway picture (we have the technology) to prove who the driver was. And the paint chip match. Death bed confessions are the best! No statue of limitations on this one!
too smart to leave name
10 months ago
CORRECTION why are we not blowing up the supposedly only snap shot? See, wait until the death is turned around; we will see exactly what technology can do!
Atlanta
10 months ago
it doesn’t matter if the driver or the pedestrian was at fault for the accident..no human being with even an ounce of decency, would hit another human being with an automobile and keep going.
for all the money the manhattan-hair family may have…i bet it’s not enough to pay-off the @$$ whipping they’re about to receive from their conscious/s. too bad for them that it’s their the soul & conscious and not a wells fargo truck, that will follow them into eternity…let them cheerlead on that!
Disappointed in the Valdez Family
10 months ago
Based on the action of the Valdez family, and moreover, Jordan, it is a shame it was not Jordan killed by a hit and run driver. Perhaps then this family would learn what doing the right thing is all about. Sleep well for the rest of your days little girl.
Tino
10 months ago
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose:
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/658191051.html?FMT=FT&dids=658191051:658191051&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+02%2C+2004&author=GRAHAM+BRINK&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&desc=Lawyer%3A+Teen+has+no+plans+to+fight+ticket
Meredith
10 months ago
“it doesn’t matter if the driver or the pedestrian was at fault for the accident..no human being with even an ounce of decency, would hit another human being with an automobile and keep going.”
And THAT is the outrage, clueless jason. Pathetic that we have to point it out.
Nick
10 months ago
WOW : “Disappointed in the Valdez Family Says”
It’s amazing how your statement is not only disgusting but that you would say something like that at all. This is a sad case no doubt. However we know nothing about what is really going on and what is happening right now behind the scenes with each family. To make a statement is fine. To write something like you have ,makes me sad to think the hate that is out in the world.
jason
10 months ago
Good point Merdeith. I guess I am just so inured to it by this point I don’t notice any more. Consider this though, had she stopped (and we are assuming the witness who identified the other driver is wrong or lying) she would have gone free the pedestrian would have been dead and we would never have heard about it.
harry
10 months ago
if you have money and lots of it you can do anything you want and get away with it..
Maria
10 months ago
This story would be different if she had just stopped.
I posted about this today on Deep South Moms.
http://svmomblog.typepad.com/deep_south_moms/2009/05/passing-judgment-on-a-teenaged-driver-ready-to-post-picture-sent.html
crack ho
10 months ago
i somewhat agree with “too smart leave name” that the juxtoposition of the case of Mike Vick, whose life is ruined because he killed dogs, and the case of Jennifer Porter, who was mildly inconvenienced because she killed children, is very illuminating.
LISA MOTT THE AUNT
9 months ago
I am the aunt of the homeless woman killed in Tampa Flordia,Melissa Sjostrom i am fighting to protect we the people of the united states.so that confessed criminals can not just walk away from their responibility to both the punishment and victims they leave behind…. i myself am disabled ,caring for a sister with severe brain damage,also a 88 yr old stepfather who is legally blind, and a mother greiving the loss of her only daughter,I am fighting for Dylan my neice’s 14 yr old son as he will never have the opportunity to share his life with his mother, i am fighting for every person, that who you are and what you do does not make you anymore, or anyless than any other human being. I am fighting for you!PLEASE find out if you have the accident report privilige doctrine in your state as we are going to change this law to include punishment! we will get Jordan i screamed at everyone involved, tampa pd , states atty’s, and the case is reopened, and toll tape going to be reviewed by FBI,NASA. there is no place for discrimination in a accident,injury, muchless homicide, Jordan didn’t tell her parent, police did 12 hours later as mom reported the car stolen.the fact’s are coming out, tampa has a dozen articles on this. i did a spot on Goodmorning America and we are going to need all the help we can get to change this law contact us at yahoo hitnrun.I am going to protect we the people who both walk or drive in this country, from the next Jordan Valdez help me help you.
LISA MOTT THE AUNT
9 months ago
Melissa had no cocaine in her system, very little alcohol was in her system,0.05 read the autopsy! the Valdez family has tried twice to offer us more money for our silence.Melissa owes over $322,000.00 her son may never see a dime.none of the family members want a dime of the Valdez Dynasty! WE want justice! we have experienced discrimination, negligence,arrogance,stupidity which is totally unacceptable!we want full accountability from the police,states attorneys office,the 3 Valdez attorney’s, the Valdez Family, and Jordan… we want her in adult court with a 1st degree felony conviction,probation,community service,loss of driving privileges,counseling. jail time is for a judge. we will not settle for anything less! Melissa was a wonderful person, very involved with her church,she loved deeply…she was not always homeless,
no one chooses for a loved one to be homeless.we loved her and miss her everyday!Her son is 14, he is angry,in counseling,and confused. how anyone can blame the victim is beyond us…we do not know if Jordan was snorting cocaine off her dashboard,text messaging,or eating fries, we do know she did not stop, render aid, call 911 or tell her parents for over 12 hours she only told them after the police told them the car they were reporting stolen was in fact impounded taken from the front of their house,and involved in a hit and run homicide….they have lied, covered up this crime, they even went to court for a ticket for careless driving while striking a pedestrian, which was all the detective could give her when her attorney took the accident report privilege doctrine (which is not an option in a homicide) and Jordan than took her 5th amendment right. they subpeona the detective to traffic court which he could not testify as he did not witness a careless driving accident, they never notified the witness’s to the homicide to come to traffic court? would you? case dismissed!lack of evidence? this is the last straw for us. they have taken the lowest level of moral decency and buried it.we have screamed at the Tampa PD, Internal Affairs,States Attorneys Office,this case was reopened.. and we will get our day in court!
help us help you fight to reinforce the laws of hit and run, and change the accident report privelige Doctrine! we need all the help we can get! we are going to change this law to include a level of punishment so people can not just walk away from the victims as well as the responsibility , and justice they leave behind. justice will be served! contact us at tampahitnrun at yahoo.com
The family of Melissa Sjostrom “MISSY”
voxy
8 months ago
From the bottom of my heart I wish you luck. However, if you are looking for repentance or even acknowldgement from the SA office (mark ober, pam bondi, wayne chalu …et. al.) you are wasting your time. Pursue other avenues. Or you will ahve nothing but thirty page reports covering ass and saying the same thing over and over again. These people are OUT TO KILL… AND … it was probably an accident with Jordan.
Mark Ober and the other state’s attorneys under him need to be impeached. Go try to figure out what happened to the charges of mitchell smith five counts of leaving the scene of an accident. Tampa firefighters shuold just run over people (and they DO) because not only are they such heroes but their records also disappear. AND they get to beat their toddlers to smithereens.
I’m sorry for the loss of your sister. Tampa is a hole unmatched by any hole this side of a hole.
Not all the people but most of those slithered into authority. There are still some good ones.
We just don’t HAVE a state’s attorney. Don’t look for justice through that office. If you live in a state where you can citizen subpoena a grand jury. DO IT. Have them investigate these criminals. THAT is how you can get justice for your beloved sister.
Sounds like you have your hands full.
Take care.
Accident Attorneys
8 months ago
I think what evidence got police is enough to caught. An why did they close the case ?
First they should take action against careless driving.
John Feeney
8 months ago
Leaving all the emotional hyperbole re wealth and class aside this was a teenage child who made a stupid mistake. The woman who died crossed in the middle of the road on a dark street when she was hit. Valdez panicked and made the wrong decision afterwards – that is all. The rest of this is smoke-filled coffeehouse bullsh**! Put the chick on probation and call it a day. You want to hear more check out my blog “excaliburs word” at feeneyslaw.blogspot.com. But I am tired as hell of all the sanctimonius “Monday Morning Quarterbacking” I am hearing. Shut the f*** up unless you have something useful to say!
tommy
8 months ago
The point is that the cops were going to do NOTHING until the press found out, and the community became outraged, forcing law enforcement to make a better case.
They did.
matt
8 months ago
sad just sad