South Florida woman arrested in deadly Fort Lauderdale hit-and-run crash

Months after a hit-and-run crash in Fort Lauderdale left one person dead and three others injured, a South Florida woman has been arrested on more than a dozen charges.

Beverly Slaughter, 25, of Opa-locka in Miami-Dade County, was arrested on Tuesday in connection with a two-car crash near West Sunrise Boulevard and Northwest 24th Avenue in April, court records show.

Shortly after 1 a.m. on April 29, Slaughter was speeding in a 2021 Mercedes-Benz, S-Class sedan on West Sunrise Boulevard while approaching the intersection, a probable cause affidavit said. A 2021 Nissan Altima made a left turn through a green light, and the two cars entered the intersection simultaneously.

The front of Slaughter’s car struck the right side of the Nissan, and surveillance video from a nearby McDonald’s showed Slaughter run away from the scene once both cars came to a stop, the affidavit said. She was the only person inside the car.

A Fort Lauderdale Police officer chased after her as she was “walking extremely discreet between a bushy fence line and a concrete wall” next to the McDonald’s parking lot. After catching up with her, Slaughter told the officer she ran because “her boyfriend told her to,” the affidavit said.

Slaughter and the four people inside the Nissan were taken from the crash scene to Broward Health Medical Center. The names of those who were injured are redacted in the affidavit.

One of the injured was removed from life support and died on May 2. Another person was seriously injured, court records said.

At the time of the crash, Slaughter’s license had been suspended since 2021, prosecutors said in a motion seeking to hold her in custody while the case is pending. In 2023, she was convicted of driving without a license, driving with a suspended license, DUI, fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer and reckless driving.

Slaughter is facing nine felony charges charges, including vehicular homicide, and four misdemeanor charges, court records show. She was held in the North Broward Bureau as of Wednesday without bond.