Cops Search for Driver in Fatal Day Care Center Hit-and-Run
Florida authorities are searching for a man who crashed a car into a Orlando day care center earlier today, killing one child and injuring 14 others.
The driver allegedly crashed his Dodge Durango into a Toyota convertible, smashing the smaller car into a KinderCare day care building, before fleeing the scene and abandoning his SUV.
Joel Rosado, and Orlando roofer, told the Sentinel that he was working on the roof of a nearby gas station when he heard a loud screech, then saw the crash.
The Durango hit a small, dark-colored car, he said, which barreled into the daycare, driving well inside the building. The Durango then fled north, Rosado said.
The roofer ran to help, and said he saw the small car's driver emerge from the wreckage. The man, who was middle-aged, said he was physically fine. However, he was visibly shaken and emotional about crashing into the building full of children.
Police found the abandoned Durango after receiving a telephone tip that also identified the driver as 28-year-old Robert Corchado.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Corchado has a lengthy rap sheet and served three years for a cocaine trafficking conviction. In December, he was arrested for possession of cocaine and heroin and for leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage.
Police say that one child died in the crash, and 14 others experienced injuries ranging from minor to critical. Two were treated at the scene and the others were hospitalized.
Cops are still trying to track Corchado, who they say is definitely on the run and already rented a new SUV at the Orlando International Airport.
"We do know he is trying to flee the area ... We got information he might be trying to catch a flight out of Orlando," a Florida Highway Patrol spokesperson told Reuters.
[image via AP]