Driver fleeing 2 different crash scenes kills woman in third wreck, Florida cops say

A Tampa man linked to two hit-and-run collisions in one morning is facing a vehicular homicide charge after a third crash turned fatal, according to Florida investigators.

All three occurred in succession just before 6 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25, in Tampa, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

“While leaving a nightclub, Jenri Fuentes Rodriguez, 39, collided with an occupied vehicle but proceeded to flee from the scene. After leaving the scene, Rodriguez pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot, where he hit another vehicle, and he, yet again, continued without stopping,” the sheriff’s office said.

“Proceeding down Waters Avenue, traveling at a high rate of speed, Rodriguez then ran a red light, causing his car and another vehicle to collide and flip multiple times, forcing the victim and her vehicle into a wooden utility pole.”

Deputies arrived to find the other driver, 59-year-old Ann Marie Rutkowski, had died at the scene.

Rodriguez was hospitalized “with non-life-threatening injuries” and arrested upon his release later that day, records show.

He was charged with vehicular homicide, reckless driving with property damage and two counts of leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, according to jail records.

Maps show a McDonald’s is at the intersection where the crash occurred.

This story was originally published February 26, 2024 at 7:53 AM with the headline "Driver fleeing 2 different crash scenes kills woman in third wreck, Florida cops say."