An arrest is pending after a hit and run fatality that occurred at 1:17 a.m. Saturday in the 3700 block of South Sanford Avenue.
James Marion Court II, 47, of Sanford rode his bicycle south on Sanford Avenue when he was struck from behind by a Ford F150 pickup truck, according to Cleo Cohen, a spokeswoman for the Sanford Police Department.
A witness at the scene told police that the truck drove about 150 feet after hitting Court. The vehicle came to a complete stop, then left the scene continuing south on Sanford Avenue.
Police initially searched for an SUV, but then found the pickup truck in Baker’s Crossing, not far from the scene of the hit and run.
“An arrest is pending the results of the investigation,” Cohen said.
The second fatality happened when Arthur K. Polk Jr., 32, crashed his car at Third Street and Avocado Avenue Sunday morning around 2:35.
According to Cohen, Polk was in a “horrendous” accident.
Some claimed police were pursuing him, but an officer said he had not had time to even try to contact the driver before the accident occurred.
Polk was involved in a confrontation with his girlfriend prior to the deadly crash.
Cohen said Polk had rammed his car into another vehicle in which his girlfriend was a passenger. The driver of that car flagged down a police officer, who saw Polk’s taillights, but never got close enough to the vehicle to have any kind of contact.
Police said Polk lost control on the dips in the road where he traveled at a “high rate of speed,” although Cohen couldn’t say how fast. The speed limit is posted at 30 mph, she said.
Polk rapped the car around a palm tree, Cohen said. The accident is still under investigation.
Anyone with any information about these incidents can call the Sanford Police Department at 407-322-4141 or CrimeLine at 1-800-423-TIPS.