VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A 24-year-old woman arrested last week by Daytona Beach police is accused of DUI in a January crash that killed an out-of-state pedestrian who was in town for the Rolex 24.
Starlett Tabares, 24, faces charges of vehicular homicide and DUI causing death to a human in the Jan. 27 crash, reported early that morning in the 300 block of Seabreeze Bouevard, the roadway’s intersection with North Oleander Avenue, records show.
According to Tabares’ arrest affidavit, the pedestrian — identified as Mark Edward Fleetwood, 58, of Michigan — was attempting to walk across Seabreeze Boulevard in a marked crosswalk when he was struck by Tabares’ 2020 Kia Rio around 3:05 a.m., soon pronounced dead by Volusia County EMS at 3:11 a.m.
Though a review of traffic flow as seen on surveillance footage at the time of the crash suggested Tabares would have had a green light — as well as how Fleetwood’s postmortem toxicology report returned a blood-alcohol content value of 0.184 g/100 mL — Tabares reportedly refused to submit to a blood test for alcohol content, according to the affidavit. A blood test was eventually obtained via warrant within about three hours of the crash, with her results showing “positive findings for ethyl alcohol, 0.116 + 0.005 g/100 mL,” or around 1.5 times the legal limit in Florida.
Additionally, investigators found that the Kia had recorded itself accelerating to 57 mph in a 30 mph zone up until two seconds prior to the crash, as well as that Tabares allegedly never pressed the brakes before impact.
Tabares was arrested June 15 and posted $50,000 bond which was approved the next day, court records show.
Her arraignment is scheduled for the afternoon of July 16.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: