Woman Charged In Fatal Hit & Run At Casino Deemed A Flight Risk
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COCONUT CREEK (CBSMiami) -- Following an arrest for a hit and run accident outside a popular casino that took the life of 57-year-old Jay Edelstein, prosecutors said the suspect thought about fleeing the country.
Edelstein was walking through an access road at the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek last Thursday when he was struck from behind. Police said they found the suspect's car that same day.
Nadia Pierre-Louis, 25, was arrested on Tuesday.
"She hit him and he was on the hood, and she continued to run over him and drag him," said Joanne Centeno, the victim's friend and former roommate. "What kind of person is that, that could do that and just take off? He didn't deserve that."
Edelstein was struck around 6:00 a.m. as he was heading home from the casino.
"We could see that he fell on the hood but why continue," asked Centeno. "I once ran over an opossum and in the pit of my stomach, it made me sick. I don't know how anybody could do that."
Police said they recovered Pierre-Louis' 2003 Toyota Corolla.
In court Wednesday, prosecutors said Pierre-Louis sent text messages to someone saying she was going to leave the country. The judge then ordered her to surrender her green card and passport.
Pierre-Louis worked for a cleaning service at the casino and told her family that it was difficult to see during the early morning hours before dawn.
"She told me that the people there, it was black and there was no light," said Michelin Noel, her aunt. "She didn't see people, she tell me."
Noel couldn't say if that was the case in the death of Jay Edelstein.
Friends remembered him as a kind and generous person who kept to himself and was recovering from a stroke.
"We will miss him yeah," lamented Centeno. "I still can't believe it happened. I don't think she deserved to be free."
Pierre-Louis was charged with Failure to Stop and Remain on an Accident Involving a Death. She's being held on $250,000 bond.