LEON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - A man has been charged in connection to a hit-and-run that killed a Wakulla County high school coach in May 2017.
Jarvis Strickland, 38, was arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol on Friday.
According to the police report, a witness in another vehicle was driving southbound on Springhill Road near Clinton Hudson Sr. Lane when he passed Paul Hoover approaching a crosswalk.
The witness told FHP troopers that he saw Strickland speeding approaching the crosswalk, lock his vehicle brakes, then heard the crash.
The police report states the witness, who's a licensed EMT, then turned around and discovered that Hoover had been hit.
The witness said he called 911 and told dispatchers that Hoover was dead on the scene.
According to the witness, Strickland never stopped and continued traveling.
The police report states that Strickland was traveling 87 mph in a 55 mph zone moments before the crash.
Surveillance video from a nearby gas station helped investigators identify Strickland and a tip helped investigators locate Strickland's car in a wooded area that had been completely burned.
The Federal and State Fire Marshal's Office determined the car had been set on fire a short time after the crash.
Based on the evidence, Strickland is being charged with vehicular homicide and hit-and-run involving death.
He has been transported to the Leon County Detention Center.
LEON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) -- Florida Highway Patrol reports on a fatal crash involving a runner in Leon County.
It happened on Spring Hill Road South of Clinton Hudson Sr. Lane around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23.
Officers says 66 year-old Paul Hoover was running along Spring Hill Road when the driver of a light-colored sedan hit him.
The driver fled the scene.
Officers believe that the sedan has damage to its left front and left outside rear-view mirror.
Hoover was the track coach at Wakulla County High School.
Florida State University School's cross country and track field shared their condolences:
"Prayers go out from one track family to another! Wakulla track and cross country coach Paul Hoover will be missed by all.
Coach Hoover was a great person that put the kids before anything else. Paul Hoover, Coach Tyrone McGriff will forever be thankful for all of the kind words and wisdom you shared with him over the years.
You will be missed."
We have also learned that Hoover was also a bailiff at the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office. The deputies shared their condolences in this statement:
"It is with a heavy heart that the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office mourns the loss of Baliff Paul Hoover. Paul tragically lost his life yesterday in Leon County.
"Paul has been a beloved member of the Wakulla County Sheriff's Office since he began working here in 2008. He worked as a Bailiff and was not only loved here at the Sheriff's Office but at the Wakulla County Courthouse as well. Paul was also active outside the Sheriff's Office especially with the Wakulla High school track team.
"Sheriff Jared Miller and the entire Wakulla County Sheriff's Office family keep Bailiff Paul Hoover's family and his many friends in our thoughts and prayers."
If you have any information call FHP at 850-410-0264.
