5-Year-Old Girl Killed In Hit-And-Run Crash On SR 60: Sheriff

Lakeland FL

25 October, 2021

10:45 PM

Description

POLK COUNTY, FL — A five-year-old girl died when an intoxicated man plowed into the back of the car she was in on State Road 60 Saturday night, Polk County Sheriff's Office said. Thirty-year-old Ernesto Lopez Morales of Guatemela sped in a black 2005 Chevrolet Suburban without the headlights on, investigators said. He smashed into the back of a 2016 gray Hyundai Elantra in Mulberry just before 8:30 p.m. His Chevrolet pushed the car more than 600 feet near Espo Drive following the crash, detectives said. A woman from Plant City drove the Hyundai that had the girl in the backseat. Morales drove away before authorities arrived to the location, police said. Deputies located the suspect in a home where he lived at an undisclosed location. He confessed to officers that he drank six 32-ounce beers before he left home to buy more beer. He also admitted to not turning on his headlights and feeling from the crash location, a news release said. According to officers, he left the crash because he doesn't have insurance or a driver's license. Ernesto Lopez Morales, 32, admitted to authorities that he left the scene of a fatal crash because he did not have a valid driver's license or car insurance. (Polk County Sheriff's Office)Morales blood test showed an alcohol level of 0.108, investigators said. Florida's legal limit is 0.08. "Morales has no regard for the law or human life, and we are going to do everything possible to hold him accountable," Sheriff Grady Judd said. "If he had been in Guatemala and not in the United States illegally, this beautiful little girl would still be alive today." Morales faces charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving a death, DUI manslaughter, driving with no driver's license causing death, leaving the scene of a crash involving injury and DUI property damage, according to the sheriff's office. He was last reported in the Polk County Jail on a hold from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.