Prosecutors drop charges in fatal Palmetto hit-and-run crash that killed 2 people

Michael Moore Jr.
·4 min read

A 50-year-old Palmetto man is no longer facing criminal charges in a hit-and-run crash that left two people dead and one person critically injured.

Zachary Nelson was charged with leaving the scene of a crash that killed a 13-year-old and a 47-year-old man along U.S. 19, but court records show prosecutors dropped the charges less than a month before he was scheduled to go to trial. The case has been dismissed even though Nelson reported the accident the next day.

A spokesperson for the Florida Highway Patrol, which led the investigation, said the State Attorney’s Office dropped the case after its prosecutors were “unable to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.”

According to court records, Nelson’s case was set to go to trial in early February, but the trial was canceled after the state entered a plea to dismiss all charges.

A civil citation that arose from the same investigation was also dropped, according to court records, after “additional information and facts were learned” resulting in the motion to dismiss charges.

The FHP corporal who issued the citation said that based on becoming “aware of additional information” that “the citation in this case does not meet the legal standard to prove the citation” and that it should be dismissed, according to a court filing submitted on Jan. 25.

A roadside memorial sits on US 19 in Palmetto to remember Tyler Pittard and Donald Keefer who died in a hit-and-run crash on Aug. 17, 2019.
A roadside memorial sits on US 19 in Palmetto to remember Tyler Pittard and Donald Keefer who died in a hit-and-run crash on Aug. 17, 2019.

Charges dropped in fatal 2019 crash

Around 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 17, 2019, 13-year-old Tyler Shane Pittard and family friend Donald Charles Keener died after being struck by what witnesses described as a white Chevy Silverado traveling south on U.S. 19 in the right lane south of 49th Street East, the Bradenton Herald previously reported.

A third pedestrian, a 40-year-old woman, was also hit by the pickup truck and was taken to HCA Florida Blake Hospital where she underwent emergency surgery for injuries to her legs, according to an arrest report.

A fourth pedestrian who was not hit the night of the accident told investigators that the driver of the pickup truck, which he described as a Chevy Silverado, partially exited off the paved road and entered the grass shoulder area, causing the front of the truck to strike three of the four pedestrians from behind, according to an arrest report.

The pedestrian told investigators that the truck then traveled back into the road and stopped before looking back and then continuing to travel south on U.S. 19.

Hit-and-run driver reported the crash, FHP says

The following day after the crash, Nelson called the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office after seeing the story on the news.

“I saw a report that some people got hit and I think that was me,” Nelson told dispatchers, according to an arrest report.

Nelson told authorities the reason he did not stop or call law enforcement the night of the crash was because he thought he hit an animal, perhaps a large deer or a cow, according to an arrest report.

It was raining heavily the night of the crash and Nelson couldn’t see, he told investigators.

But when Nelson read in the paper the next day that somebody died, he called law enforcement.

A roadside memorial sits on US 19 in Palmetto to remember Tyler Pittard and Donald Keefer who died in a hit-and-run crash on Aug. 17, 2019.
A roadside memorial sits on US 19 in Palmetto to remember Tyler Pittard and Donald Keefer who died in a hit-and-run crash on Aug. 17, 2019.

“How do you live with yourself after you kill someone?” Nelson asked a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputy, according to an arrest report.

Upon FHP’s arrival, troopers say Nelson told them he wanted an attorney present before talking about the crash.

Troopers said that Nelson’s 2003 Chevy Silverado matched the description of the vehicle involved in the crash and had damage consistent with hitting something.

FHP said investigators were also able to obtain video evidence that showed Nelson’s pickup truck in the area moments before the crash from a storage facility, as well as video just after the crash from Palmetto High School and a house on 17th Street West.

The videos post-crash show severe damage to the truck, according to FHP.

All three videos also show the truck with a ladder rack installed on the truck bed, which troopers say was removed and placed out of plain sight once they got there.

Investigators say Nelson’s cell phone records also place him in St. Petersburg the night of the crash, and a Toll Enforcement Officer confirmed a Chevy Silverado registered to Nelson traveled across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and through the toll plaza at a time consistent with being in the area at the time of the crash.

Nearly ten months after being questioned by authorities, Nelson was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a crash with death, leaving the scene of a crash with serious bodily injury and tampering with evidence, according to court records.