A Miami Gardens woman was arrested on Monday in connection with a fatal hit-and-run that claimed the life of a pedestrian. Shyteria Tranae Clarke, 26, stands accused of fleeing the scene after the incident, which took place on April 5 at Northwest 47th Avenue and 188th Street. WSVN reports that Clarke has been charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death.
After the accident, a witness followed the car, leading to a detailed description and a tag number being handed over to authorities, according to Local 10 News. Subsequently, the vehicle associated with Clarke was tracked down after it was towed owing to a fire incident that occurred a day later, complicating efforts to link the incident directly to her at the time.
During the investigation, police discovered that Clarke was not a licensed driver. They also learned that a man claimed to be driving the car when it caught fire on April 11. Initially, he was not forthright about also being in the vehicle at the time of the crash, telling police he felt a "bump," which he thought was the curb, not a pedestrian as later revealed by police inquiries.
Persistent detective work saw the police conducting a recorded call on April 18, which according to Local 10 News, implicated Clarke as the driver during the fatal hit-and-run. The man on the call confronted Clarke, who never denied that she hit someone or even attempted to. "I just feel bad because I don't know how I hit somebody and didn't see them," Clarke stated during the call with the man, who was sitting passenger-seat side during the accident. The call helped cement the authorities' case, corroborated by a warrant revealing that both Clarke's and the man's cellphones pinged at the scene of the crash.
Ultimately, Clarke agreed to turn herself in to Miami Gardens Police. She is currently being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, and as of Tuesday, her bond had not been set.
