19-year-old allegedly fled after hitting pedestrian near NSU campus, police say

A 19-year-old man is facing a second-degree felony charge seven months after he allegedly hit a pedestrian near the Nova Southeastern University campus and drove away before officers arrived, police said.

A probable cause affidavit was written in May for the arrest of Vincent Walla, of Staten Island, N.Y., for charges of failing to stop or remain at an accident involving serious bodily injury.

The warrant was served Monday, according to court records. At the time of the crash in March, Walla was an NSU student, according to the affidavit.

On the evening of March 30, a pedestrian was hit in the road at South University Drive and Southwest 36th Street in Davie. When officers arrived, the victim could not remember what happened and the driver who hit him was gone, according to Walla’s probable cause affidavit. The victim suffered a head injury and a collarbone fracture.

Officers reviewed surveillance video from the NSU campus and identified the suspect’s car as a black Ford Mustang with a New York license plate, the affidavit said. A man and woman were seen on surveillance video shortly before 6:30 p.m. riding an elevator to a level of a parking garage on the university’s campus and exiting the garage in the car, with the man driving.

The driver hit the victim as he was crossing South University Drive west toward Southwest 36th Street, according to the affidavit, knocking him to the ground. The Mustang driver continued for several feet before stopping.

Someone walked toward the pedestrian from where the car was parked, the affidavit said, and two people were seen on video moving the victim from the road back to the corner of the intersection. Shortly after 6:30 p.m., the Mustang drove off.

A public safety coordinator at the university told police Walla was the registered owner of the Mustang, the affidavit said.

Two separate people called 911 that evening to report the crash, according to the affidavit, one who identified himself as Vincent. A Davie Police officer who arrived at the scene after the driver fled called the phone number of the man who identified himself as Vincent, and the man who answered said he didn’t see the crash and wanted no involvement.

The second man who called 911 witnessed the crash with his daughter in the car, according to the affidavit. He and his daughter came back to the scene and told officers the suspect was a man in his early 20s, about 5-feet-8-inches tall, weighing about 115 pounds with black, medium-length hair and was driving a black Ford Mustang.

The witness said he saw the pedestrian lying in the road when he made left turn on South University Drive, and a young man next to him, the affidavit said. He stopped to help and called 911. The witness said he heard the man with the pedestrian say he was driving and did not see him in the road.

The man’s daughter told police the suspect said he had a green light on Southwest 36th Street and did not see the pedestrian, according to the affidavit.

Officers reviewed the 911 calls about the crash and heard one caller identify himself as Vincent Walla, who asked for an ambulance and said, “Um, the light turned, he started crossing the street, and got hit,” the affidavit said.

In the background of the call a man’s voice could be heard saying, “Do you want any money? Do you need an ambulance?” the affidavit said. A second man, which may have been the victim, was heard saying he was OK.

The 911 operator asked the caller to give the car’s color, make and model three times, but the caller never answered and then hung up, the affidavit said. He did not answer when the operator called back.

In May, a witness to the crash picked Walla’s photo out of a lineup, according to the affidavit.

Walla’s attorney information was not available Tuesday. He was not held in the jail as of Tuesday evening.