ORLANDO, Fla. – A man who deputies said was behind the wheel of a car that took off from a traffic stop and caused a deadly crash in Orlando has been arrested more than a year after the wreck.
Eddie King, 49, was booked Thursday into the Orange County jail.
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King, of Gainesville, was driving a gold Chevrolet Impala on May 6, 2021, when an Orange County deputy attempted a traffic stop near the intersection of North Orange Blossom Trail and Lee Road in Orlando.
Deputies said the King pulled into a BP gas station but refused to stop. Instead, King left the parking lot and headed east on Lee Road, according to the arrest affidavit.
Investigators said King lost control on a curve in the road and crossed into westbound traffic. A brown Nissan Altima then slammed into the passenger side of King’s Impala, records show. The Impala then hit a third vehicle, which then hit a fourth.
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The crash killed a passenger in the Impala — Gilberto Vinaja Estrada, 35 — and the driver of the Altima — Stephanie Marshall, 51 — according to the affidavit.
Marje Pascal’s car was one of the four involved in the wreck. She said she was lucky.
“I was in the lane where the lady died, and then I switched over,” Pascal said. “As soon as I switched over, that’s when the impact happened.”
Pascal told News 6 she was on her way to pick up her son from school when it happened. She drives by the area every day.
“I only live right up the road, so every day, I’m reminded of it,” Pascal said. “It never clears my thought because I’m always thinking about it, because I’m always thinking it could have been me.”
Pascal called King’s arrest a step toward justice.
“It’s deserved. Yeah, it was long overdue,” Pascal said.
An investigation by Orlando police revealed King had cocaine and a substance common to bath salts in his system. Detectives also discovered his license was suspended.
Lee faces two counts of vehicular homicide, a charge of fleeing law enforcement and two counts of driving with a suspended license causing death.
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