COCOA, Fla. – Two men are in the hospital after a hit-and-run crash that stalled traffic on U.S. 1 near State Road 528 on Tuesday.
Cocoa police spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez said investigators are looking into claims that the car involved in the crash may have been involved in a carjacking in Merritt Island right before the incident at 5 p.m.
Witnesses told News 6 they saw the blue car exit the Beachline and dump a passenger in the road before speeding through the intersection.
"We just saw the blue car come flying through the intersection and just T-bone her," Sarah Pineo said, adding that the car crashed into a woman driving a red pickup truck. "She spun around, went on the other side of the median and almost hit a pole. She came back through and the kid pulled himself out of the car and jumped over the fence."
A police helicopter took to the air to search for the driver, who was caught about a half-mile away from the crash scene.
William Mathis was booked into the Brevard County Jail Wednesday at 12:40 a.m. in connection with the crash.
Martinez said he and his passenger were both taken to a local hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Detectives are working to figure out what happened and how the men were injured.