Accused drunk driver runs over 2 pedestrians near national monument, Florida cops say

A suspected drunk driver ran over two people in a crosswalk before crashing outside North Florida’s Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, investigators say.

The pedestrians, both females, were listed in critical condition, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Investigators have not said if the victims were tourists.

No damage was done to the historic Spanish fortress in St. Augustine, which is more than 320 years old, the National Park Foundation reports.

The crash happened at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 7, in the fort’s parking lot along the Matanzas River, police said.

“Witnesses observed a vehicle traveling northbound on Avenida Menendez at a high rate of speed and strike two females on the pedestrian sidewalk,” the sheriff’s office said in the news release.

“The vehicle continued to travel into a parking lot, striking a parking sign and pay to park kiosk before coming to a stop.”

A 21-year-old woman was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, DUI crash involving serious bodily injury, DUI crash involving property damage, and two counts of felony reckless driving causing serious bodily injury, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies also arrested her 22-year-old passenger, when he ignored deputies and began causing “a disturbance with other citizens while first responders were treating the victims,” officials said.

He was charged with resisting officers without violence, the sheriff’s office said.

The historic fort is “the oldest masonry fortification in the continental United States,” the National Park Service reports. It was built by the Spanish to defend its trade routes along Florida, historians say.

This story was originally published January 8, 2024 at 7:04 AM with the headline "Accused drunk driver runs over 2 pedestrians near national monument, Florida cops say."