A pedestrian died on Gulf Drive Feb. 10 and a Holmes Beach resident accused of striking her with a Chevy Trailblazer surrendered to police the next day.
Cierra Shannon, 27, turned herself into the Bradenton Police Department Feb. 11 around 4:45 p.m. after leaving the scene of a Gulf Drive hit-and-run crash the night before that resulted in the death of 83-year-old Madelyn Dakin.
Shannon was placed in custody and charged with a first-degree felony for failing to remain at the crash scene that resulted in death. The charge carries a four-year minimum mandatory prison sentence if she is found guilty.
The incident occurred around 7 p.m. in the 2700 block of Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach, according to Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer.
Dakin, a Michigan resident who was vacationing in Holmes Beach with her husband of 67 years, Gerald, was pronounced dead by emergency medical services soon after arriving at the scene.
“Multiple witnesses stopped and advised that a thin-built, blonde female, approximately in her 20s, was observed beside the victim and frantically shaking her, asking other witnesses for help,” a probable cause affidavit for the incident states.
“One witness advised that the defendant made multiple statements that she needed to leave because she was in a hurry or she needed to pick up her mother before eventually getting back in her vehicle and leaving the scene.”
Tokajer said the witnesses and the city’s license plate recognition system helped them identify Shannon, the daughter of the vehicle’s registered owner, as the driver.
“There were witnesses at the scene that were able to tell us the type of vehicle, the color of the vehicle and describe the driver to us,” Tokajer said. “We then went to our license plate recognition system for the time period and found a vehicle that matched the description given and got a tag from that match.”
The Holmes Beach Police Department and the BPD launched a search for Shannon and the vehicle, a 2006 silver Chevrolet Trailblazer, before receiving a call from her lawyer.
“The attorney contacted us and told us that he would give us the location of the vehicle and that she would turn herself in,” Tokajer said.
Police recovered the vehicle from a wooded area at the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage Preserve in Cortez. The vehicle was impounded and processed for evidence.
The incident marks the first island traffic fatality since 80-year-old Canadian resident Marion Timmins, who also was visiting the island, was killed in January 2018 when she and her husband, William, on their way to the beach, were hit by an SUV while crossing Gulf Drive near Guava Street in Holmes Beach.
Shannon was represented by attorney Ronald Filipkowski at a first appearance Feb. 12, when 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Jacqueline Steele ordered supervised release, no alcohol consumption and $15,000 bond.
HBPD stated on its probable cause affidavit that Shannon was employed by Paradise Boat Tours in Bradenton Beach.
She also has several recorded traffic infractions, including a charge for running a stop sign Feb. 8, and had been judged guilty of DUI with property damage in 2015 and received probation, according to Manatee County court records.