Daytona man who hit child with car and fled was out on bail for drug charges

DAYTONA BEACH - A relative of the mayor of Daytona Beach, who allegedly hit a child with his car and fled was out on bail on previous drug charges at the time of the incident, records show.

On Wednesday, a judge at his court hearing at the Volusia County Branch Jail set Kenyatta Henry's bail for allegedly hitting the child and leaving the scene of the crash at $10,000. But the bail on the unrelated charges was revoked because of the new charge.

Court records show that at the time of the hit-and-run crash on Tuesday, Kenyatta Henry was out of jail on $164,000 bail for the previous arrest in November.

Daytona Beach police said Henry, 23, was arrested at his Daytona Beach home on Tuesday hours after he struck a toddler in the 800 block of Forest Lane around 1:20 p.m. Henry was charged with leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury.

Daytona Beach commissioner secured bail for Kenyatta Henry

On Wednesday, Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry acknowledged that Kenyatta Henry was his relative but declined to say how they were related.

But last year when Kenyatta Henry was arrested for drug and other offenses and bonded out, the paperwork in the court file showed the name Dannette Henry as security for the bond payments through a promissory note and indemnity agreement.

Dannette Henry is the sister of the mayor and a Daytona Beach city commissioner. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

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On Nov. 17, Kenyatta Henry was arrested and charged with fleeing and eluding law enforcement officers, trafficking in fentanyl, and possession of methamphetamine with the intent to sell or deliver.

He was scheduled to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday to answer to the drug charges.

It was not Kenyatta's first drug offense, court records show.

One day in jail

In August 2021 Kenyatta Henry was arrested for grand theft of a firearm, possession of cocaine, and possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana. In that case, he pleaded no contest to the marijuana charge with adjudication withheld but was found guilty of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Kenyatta Henry spent one day in jail for the 2021 drug offense.

Then in March 2019, Daytona Beach police found him in the 1600 block of South Ridgewood Avenue in possession of 3.4 grams of marijuana. He pleaded no contest to marijuana possession. His guilt adjudication was withheld and he was ordered to pay $338 in court costs.

What happened in Tuesday's hit-and-run incident

Daytona Beach police said that a young girl, identified in multiple television news reports as 2-year-old Elaya Richardson, was trying to enter the passenger side of a car on the side of the road in front of the Forest Lane home when she was hit by Kenyatta Henry's black Dodge Charger at 1:18 p.m.

Kenyatta Henry drove a short distance and stopped. He got out of the car and started walking toward the child but one of the parents started screaming at him, so he got into the car and left the scene, according to his arrest report.

The parents then picked up the child and rushed her to Halifax Health Medical Center. Police then started looking for the hit-and-run car.

While police were looking for the car, they were alerted about a disturbance at 539 Fulton St. A dispatcher heard a woman screaming "who hit my child," the report states.

3 hours to tell police he was in an accident

When police got to the Fulton Street home they discovered that Kenyatta Henry had partially covered the black Dodge Charger in the driveway to make it look like it had not been out, the report said.

Kenyatta Henry then came out of the house sobbing and saying that the child ran into the car, that he was not speeding, and that he left because he was scared, investigators said.

Kenyatta Henry then said he wanted to talk to a lawyer, police said.

Kenyatta Henry's vehicle hit the small girl at 1:18 p.m. and it was not until 4 p.m. when police were called to the disturbance that they learned he was involved in the hit-and-run crash, investigators said.

Eileen Zaffiro-Kean and John Dunbar contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona man who hit child with car and fled is arrested