Two people were seriously injured in a head-on collision at 8:20 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9 on Causeway Boulevard. The driver who caused the accident fled the scene on foot and was later arrested for failing to remain at the crash site and charged with reckless driving and driving with a suspended license.
Pablo Arbella Martinez, 26, North Fort Myers, was traveling south across the last span of the Sanibel Causeway when he moved into the northbound lane at a high rate of speed in an attempt to pass other southbound vehicles. He was unable to reenter the southbound lane before his vehicle struck a northbound SUV.
Witnesses told Sanibel Police Officers that Martinez attempted to help the individuals in the SUV and he appeared intoxicated. Witnesses said Martinez then fled the scene on foot after 911 was called. Officers contacted Lee County Sheriff’s Office Deputies and two K9 Officers to assist in locating Martinez.
During the search, police received a report from a home on Sand Castle Road, in the Dunes neighborhood, that a person matching the description of Martinez knocked on the front door and asked to use the phone. Police eventually located Martinez in his underwear on the Shared Use Path in front of Island Garage on Periwinkle Way.
Martinez was booked into the Lee County Jail, where he remains on a $25,000 bond as of Friday, Nov. 13. He has a history of drug-related arrests and driving with a suspended license.
The injured driver and passenger of the SUV were transported to Lee Memorial Hospital as trauma patients by Lee County Emergency Medical Services.
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