The driver charged in the Feb. 10 hit-and-run traffic death of a pedestrian on Gulf Drive is out of jail on pretrial probation.
Holmes Beach resident Cierra Shannon, 27, entered probation under the Manatee County Pretrial Release program Feb. 18 after pleading not guilty to a first-degree felony charge for leaving the scene of a hit-and-run traffic crash that resulted in the death of 83-year-old Madelyn Dakin.
Dakin, a Michigan resident who was vacationing in Holmes Beach with her husband of 67 years, Gerald, was hit while crossing around the 2700 block of Gulf Drive and was pronounced dead shortly after at the scene by emergency medical services.
With the help of witnesses and the city’s license plate recognition system, Shannon was identified as the driver of the 2006 silver Chevrolet Trailblazer that hit Dakin.
She turned herself into the Bradenton Police Department the next day and was placed in custody at the Manatee County jail.
Shannon was released Feb. 16 after posting a $15,000 bail and acceptance into the pretrial release program, which is meant to mitigate overcrowding in the jail while providing supervision over participants with probation officers.
The program allows an officer to conduct visits to a participant’s residence and workplace, requires regular check-ins with probation officers and prohibits participants from leaving Manatee or Sarasota counties without a court order.
Senior probation officer Sue Uschanga will supervise Shannon until her court case is closed.
In the meantime, the Holmes Beach Police Department’s investigation into the incident is ongoing — and it might have made some headway into determining what exactly happened.
According to a Feb. 11 HBPD offense-incident report, video footage of the crash was captured by a security camera outside the Cedar Cove Resort, 2710 Gulf Drive N., and was recovered by police.
The report does not detail what the video footage depicts, but the document states that the video was “vouchered as evidence.”
The felony charge against Shannon carries a four-year minimum mandatory prison sentence if she is found guilty.
The case is assigned to Judge Lon Arend of the 12th Judicial Circuit and an arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, March 5, at the Manatee County Judicial Center, 1051 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.
Shannon in 2015 was judged guilty of driving under the influence in another case, according to Manatee County court records.