A Boca Raton teenager has been charged as an adult with DUI manslaughter more than a year after a Jeep he was driving pulled out of a shopping plaza and into the path of a motor scooter, killing the rider. Jacob Etan Leighton, now 17 but 16 at the time of the June 26, 2025 crash, was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on September 1, 2026, and released after posting a $100,000 surety bond.
The scooter rider killed in the collision was identified as 51-year-old Navin Pungoti, who was riding a 2025 Yiben YB200T scooter northbound on North Dixie Highway near Northeast 21st Street when the crash occurred, according to WPBF 25 News. Boca Raton Fire Rescue pronounced Pungoti dead at the scene, and the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner later determined he died from multiple blunt-force injuries. A probable cause affidavit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court and reviewed by Boca Post identifies Leighton as the driver of the black 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee involved.
Surveillance footage from a nearby smoke shop, along with dashcam video from another driver, showed Leighton's Jeep backing out of a shopping plaza parking lot onto North Dixie Highway without stopping or yielding, cutting off Pungoti as he approached the intersection, per Boca Raton Tribune. Mechanical inspections of both vehicles found no pre-existing defects, the outlet reported. Police concluded that the driver failed to yield the right-of-way while entering the highway from the private driveway and that the Jeep crossed the northbound traffic lanes without braking, according to WPBF's review of the affidavit.
Scene Details Point to Impairment
Responding officers reported that Leighton slurred his words, wore sunglasses to avoid eye contact, had shaking legs, and smelled strongly of marijuana, the Tribune's report states. Investigators reported observing signs of possible impairment, and the teen reportedly told police his life was over before his father arrived, at which point Leighton invoked his right to remain silent. A search of the Jeep turned up a glass bong, a lighter, and marijuana traces, the same account notes.
Investigators later obtained a warrant for a blood sample, and toxicology results showed THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — in Leighton's blood, according to the affidavit cited by WPBF. Police said those findings were consistent with what officers observed at the scene. Based on that evidence, investigators found probable cause to charge the teenager with DUI manslaughter, and Pungoti's death was ruled accidental. Toxicology reports on Pungoti himself showed no drugs or alcohol in his system, per the Tribune's reporting.
Adult Charges and Sentencing Exposure
Prosecutors used their statutory authority to file the case directly in the felony division of Palm Beach County Circuit Court rather than juvenile court, prosecuting Leighton as an adult despite his age at the time of the crash, Boca Post reports. Under Florida Statute § 316.193(3)(c)(3), DUI manslaughter is a second-degree felony carrying a mandatory minimum of four years in state prison, a maximum of up to 15 years, a $10,000 fine, and permanent driver's license revocation, according to Online Sunshine, Florida's official statutes portal. Court records do not yet indicate a formal plea following Leighton's release on bond, and the charges remain unproven allegations at this stage of the case.
A Recurring Pattern on Boca Raton Roads
This is not the only recent case in the area involving a fatal collision between a car and a rider on a two-wheeled vehicle. Hoodline previously reported that Palm Beach County authorities charged a Deerfield driver with vehicular homicide in February 2026 after his vehicle crossed into oncoming traffic on Sandalfoot Boulevard in West Boca Raton and struck a 28-year-old electric scooter rider, killing him, in a crash that dated back to July 2025.
The Leighton case also lands amid broader countywide traffic-safety data. Preliminary figures from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles show Palm Beach County recorded 25,349 total traffic collisions in 2025, including 144 fatal crashes and 156 deaths. The same agency's records show the county logged 446 motorcycle and motor scooter crashes that year, underscoring the risks faced by riders on two-wheeled vehicles. Statewide, preliminary FLHSMV figures show 366,300 traffic crashes occurred in 2025, resulting in 2,930 fatalities and more than 238,000 injuries.
Hoodline first reported on the crash itself in June 2025, when Boca Raton police were still investigating the collision involving Pungoti and a then-16-year-old driver. More than a year later, that investigation has resulted in adult felony charges against Leighton, whose case now moves through Palm Beach County Circuit Court as prosecutors pursue the DUI manslaughter count.
