Trump adviser Roger Stone calls Pompano Beach hit-and-run 'suspicious'

Stone says he might have been targeted after called to testify before Congress

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – President Donald Trump's friend and informal adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. is calling a hit-and-run crash he was involved in Wednesday "suspicious."

Stone was riding in the front passenger seat of a vehicle Wednesday that was driven by John Kakanis when the car was struck by a gray Pontiac in Pompano Beach.

According to a crash report, Kakanis was driving north on Northwest Seventh Avenue, approaching First Street, when his car was struck by the Pontiac, which was pulling out of a parking lot.

Broward Sheriff's Office deputies said the driver kept going, making a right turn to go west on West Atlantic Boulevard.

Stone told Local 10 News reporter Layron Livingston on Thursday that the timing of the crash was a little too perfect.

"My airbags, both the front and the right, went off when we were broad sided," Stone said. "Why not stop and give your insurance information? Why go peeling away?"

Stone questioned the randomness of the crash.

"It comes on the exact day in which the House Democrats and the House Republicans called on me to testify in front of Congress on the question of possible Russian collusion in the Trump campaign," Stone said. "That is a subject I am anxious to testify about."

Kakanis told authorities that the car's windows were tinted and he could not see the driver.

A witness approached Kakanis and told him that the driver had just left an apartment building at 110 NW Seventh Ave, the report said.

Kakanis pulled over and called police.

Authorities said Stone called an Uber and left the scene before deputies arrived because he had to use the restroom.

According to the report, Stone spoke to a deputy on the phone and said that the crash happened so fast that he was unable to determine the details of the accident.

Stone posted on his Twitter account after the hit-and-run, saying that the air bags saved him.

"I am fine after suspicious hit-and-run," he wrote. "Blurred vision in right eye on which I had surgery for detached retina sustained in boxing match."

Stone told authorities that he went to Imperial Point Hospital to be checked out after the crash. He told Local 10 News that he believes someone was trying to harm him.

"I think it is possible that this was an effort to either incapacitate me, or to warn me," he said. "I am told that in the intelligence services, when you want to kill somebody, this is a common way. Who knows."

Stone also thinks that he might have been poisoned back in December, and said he spent several days feeling ill as a result of that.

 


About the Authors:

Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.

Layron Livingston made the move from Ohio's Miami Valley to Miami, Florida, to join the Local 10 News team.