Driver accused of hit-and-run crash at Coral Springs intersection now arrested
A driver accused of leaving the scene of a crash at Coral Springs Drive and Royal Palm Boulevard has been arrested and is facing charges.
Marvin Araya, 63, is charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving non-serious injury and failing to report an accident immediately. The Coral Springs News reached out to his attorney for comment March 19 but did not immediately receive a response.
Police received a call about a two-car crash at around 10:30 p.m. on March 8 at the intersection, but only one of the vehicles involved was still there, according to an arrest affidavit.
A witness showed officers dashcam footage depicting a gray Ford belonging to Araya traveling west on Royal Palm Boulevard as the victim’s vehicle, a Toyota Rav4, was traveling east on Royal Palm, police said.
The Ford was turning left onto Coral Springs Drive as the Toyota was driving through the intersection, and the vehicles crashed. The Ford continued driving and began heading south on Coral Springs Drive, police said after viewing the footage.
Fire rescue took the other driver to Broward Health North with reported pain to the head, left leg and abdomen, according to the affidavit.
Only a few minutes after the crash, another person called in a report of a reckless driver. The caller said he was behind a vehicle that was going very slow, hit a curb and looked like it was about to lose its front bumper, according to police.
He read the license plate number, and police found out it belonged to a Ford EcoSport registered to Araya.
Police went to Araya’s house in Coral Springs, where he told them he had been driving on Royal Palm when another vehicle hit him in the intersection, but he didn’t stop because he was “scared,” investigators wrote in the report.
It’s unclear who had the right of way at the time.
His car was parked in the driveway, and police said they noted major damage to the front left bumper. But when the officer went to arrest Araya, his wife and son wouldn’t let him leave the house, police said.
Officers later spoke with him in his driveway, and he was taken into custody March 10.
He bonded out of jail and pleaded not guilty to the charges.