FHP arrests ex-Port Orange resident in 2021 hit-and-run that killed newlywed from Tennessee
An Orlando woman was arrested Tuesday in a hit-and-run crash that killed a man and injured his wife two years ago in Daytona Beach while they were on their way to their honeymoon.
Megan Nichole Brannan, who will turn 33 on Wednesday and formerly lived in Port Orange, was charged with leaving the scene of a crash causing death and leaving a crash involving serious bodily injury, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
She was released Tuesday afternoon from the Volusia County Branch Jail on $75,000 bond. The jail website listed Orlando as her residence.
Troopers also arrested a passenger in her car at the time of the crash. Jeffrey Stephen Brannan, 32, Megan Brannan's husband, was charged with being an accessory after the fact, according to the FHP.
The crash happened on September 12, 2021, at about 11:13 p.m. on Interstate 95 near LPGA Boulevard in Daytona Beach.
Brannan was driving a 2021 Dodge Charger southbound on the entrance ramp from LPGA Boulevard to I-95 south, the FHP stated.
A 2019 Dodge RAM pickup was southbound on I-95 approaching LPGA Boulevard. Brannan tried to merge into the southbound traffic but did so in the "direct path" of the pickup truck, the FHP stated.
The left front of the Charger struck the right rear of the pickup. The Charger then spun out and ended up in the center lane facing south. The pickup truck overturned several times and went off the interstate into the grass shoulder with its left side striking a utility pole, the FHP stated. The truck continued overturning down an embankment until it ended up in a drainage canal.
The Charger then fled southbound on I-95, FHP stated.
The driver of the pickup, Joel Christopher Coffey, 29, of Whitesburg, Tennessee, was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center and he died six days later. His wife, Mary Coffey, 27, suffered serious injuries. Both were using shoulder and lap belts.
According to a post on a gofundme.com page, the couple had married the day before the crash.
"On September 11, 2021 my sister, Mary, married the love of her life Christopher Coffey. On September 12, 2021, on their way to their honeymoon, they were involved in a hit and run in Florida," wrote Allison Moore in the post.
Coffey passed one week after the wedding.
"Chris wasn’t a person who just became your friend, he became your family," wrote Moore in a follow-up post. "There are countless stories out there of his kindness, his ambition, and a lot of good laughs."
This was not Brannan's first traffic offense.
On Jan. 6, 2019, Brannan, then known as Megan N. Mostrales, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. At the time, she was living in Port Orange on Gibson Way, a report stated.
Brannan, identified as Mostrales in the 2019 report, was driving a Kia at 60 mph in a 50 mph zone as she passed a Port Orange Police car on southbound Nova Road. The officer followed and noticed she was making wide turns and that the Kia had an expired registration.
After she was stopped, Brannan said she was coming from “Pool and Brew.” Brannan’s breath had the odor of alcoholic beverages and her speech was slurred, the report stated.
Brannan pleaded no contest on March 5, 2019, to a reduced charge of reckless driving, and adjudication was withheld, according to court records. A charge of careless driving was dismissed.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Orlando woman arrested in fatal hit and run crash in Daytona Beach
