'Holding on for dear life': Woman, 76, flees crash with other driver on hood, sheriff says
A 76-year-old woman was arrested after fleeing a hit-and-run crash in Palm Coast with the other driver on the hood of her car, reaching speeds estimated at 50 mph, the Flagler County Sheriff's Office stated. The woman told deputies she was trying to pull over, but couldn't.
She continued another 2 miles and told police that she did not stop because she was running out of gas and was trying to get to a gas station.
Cheryl Henderson, of Palm Coast, was charged with leaving the scene of a crash and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon following the incident on Saturday. She was taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and was released Sunday on $20,000 bond.
"If you get in a car crash, the last thing you want to do is run," Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly stated. "Just take the insurance premium hike with dignity and face the consequences."
A man who was driving a Ford pickup truck told deputies that he had been involved in a minor traffic crash with Henderson about 1:57 p.m. Saturday in the area of Palm Coast and Belle Terre parkways, according to a charging affidavit. When Henderson refused to stop, the man used his pickup to block her.
When the man stepped out of his pickup, Henderson drove toward him, forcing the man to jump on the hood of Henderson's SUV to avoid being struck, according to a charging affidavit.
Henderson then headed south on Belle Terre Parkway with the man hanging on to the hood of her SUV, reaching speeds estimated at 50 mph, the sheriff's office stated. The man said he could not get off the SUV hood without being injured.
Henderson was stopped about 2 miles later when a driver who witnessed the crash forced her off the road, the sheriff's office stated.
Henderson told deputies that she did not stop at the crash scene because she was running out of gas. She said she was trying to get to a gas station and the man jumped on the hood of her vehicle, a charging affidavit stated.
'Holding on for dear life' in Palm Coast hit and run
Nealon Ryan Joseph, an emergency planner for Flagler County, said the man had only two choices: step into traffic or get on the hood.
He got on the hood.
“He was just trying to get out of the way,” Joseph said.
Joseph said he is not a law enforcement officer, but his county vehicle is equipped with red lights and a siren, so he switched them on as he followed the woman driving away with the man on her vehicle’s hood. He also called dispatch to let them know what was happening.
“I could see that he was holding on for dear life,” Joseph said in an interview. “And I was just simply trying to give enough room so that if he happened to fall off that nobody behind him would hit him.”
He said he managed to stop Henderson by positioning his vehicle in front of her and forcing her to veer off into a swale.
Said Joseph about the reaction of the man on the hood: “He was just thankful because he did not know how much longer he could hold on.”
The sheriff said the incident could have had a much more serious ending.
"This could have become a deadly incident," Sheriff Staly stated in a release. "Never hit another person with a car. Thankfully, that victim survived without any serious injuries but I'm sure it had to be a scary moment to the victim holding on to the hood and the other witnesses. She should never be allowed to touch a steering wheel again."
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Palm Coast woman flees crash with other driver on hood, sheriff says
