MIAMI — A convicted felon may be adding to his rap sheet after Miami police say he hit and injured a scooter rider while driving on the Venetian Causeway and then fled.
Michael Anthony Fraga, 33, of northwest Miami-Dade, surrendered himself at the Miami Police Department on Tuesday, five days after Thursday’s crash.
According to an MPD arrest report, Fraga, driving a gray Mercedes-Benz G-Class ― also known as a G-Wagen ― hit a woman riding a scooter as both traveled west on the bridge at around 1:15 a.m. and, having knocked her to the ground, briefly stopped, but drove away.
Witnesses, who said Fraga appeared to be speeding, called police and one took a short video as Fraga fled, police said.
Medics took the woman to Jackson Memorial Hospital with an ankle fracture, scrapes and bruises and police put out a be-on-the-lookout notice for the luxury SUV, the report states.
Two minutes after issuing the BOLO, witnesses pointed to the vehicle as it headed east towards them, police said. According to the report, two officers at the scene flagged it down and Fraga briefly stopped, but fled as an officer grabbed his door handle.
Police said they began canvassing the Venetian Islands looking for the Mercedes and found it parked at a home at 870 N. Venetian Drive on Biscayne Island.
Authorities said they knocked on the door and an older woman answered and confirmed Fraga was inside. Police said he eventually came to the door but refused to come outside and speak with officers.
According to the report, Fraga’s attorney called MPD later that day and told detectives that he would turn himself in at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
After the surrender, police arrested Fraga on a charge of leaving the scene of a crash causing serious bodily injury. An MPD spokesperson told Local 10 News that additional charges may come.
Fraga has an extensive history of arrests in South Florida, court records show.
At the time of his latest one, Fraga was in the midst of a four-year probation sentence with withheld adjudication after a January conviction for cocaine possession in Miami-Dade County. Court records show he’s been the recipient of withheld adjudication in at least three other cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Records show charges in several other cases were later dropped.
The outcome in Fraga’s new hit-and-run case remains to be seen. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
As of Wednesday, he remained in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $3,500 bond and a probation hold.
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