SPRING HILL, FL – A suspected drunk driver has been arrested in connection with a fatal hit-and-run crash in Hernando County.
According to Pasco News Online, the suspect was identified as 38-year-old Reinier Casola Rodriguez of Tampa. The Florida Highway Patrol said he was driving a Ford F-150 northbound on Mariner Boulevard at a high rate of speed on Oct. 18 at about 7 p.m. When he failed to negotiate a curve near Quality Drive and entered the center median, a man riding in the front seat who was not wearing a seat belt fell out of the pickup truck.
The truck continued traveling to the west shoulder before hitting a utility box. The passenger, a 34-year-old man from West Palm Beach, was pronounced dead after being taken to an area hospital. Two other men riding in the pickup, ages 47 and 29, suffered minor injuries.