A Florida man in his 40s is accused of hitting his girlfriend with his Dodge Neon car and then leaving her lifeless body in the road while he returned to the bar where he and his friends had been drinking.
Charles Polen of Fort Meade, Florida has been charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death, drinking while under the influence, manslaughter, and driving without a licence. The body of his girlfriend was found by another motorist.
The victim was identified as 40-year-old Deborah Hershberger.
While police were at the scene, Polen allegedly returned and demanded to know if the victim was his girlfriend, eventually requiring the police to restrain him.
Polen allegedly admitted to police that Hershberger had left the bar where they had both been drinking, and that he had set out in his car to look for her. He admitted to hitting something and then driving away.
Polen was arrested in 2019 for battery, failure to appear for battery and marijuana possession. He was also arrested earlier in Ohio for assault, non-support of a child and domestic abuse.
Police said that rather than check on the person he had hit, he drove back to the bar and waited for the police to arrive, at which point he walked back to the scene to check if the victim was his girlfriend.