PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB) — A 62-year-old man who ran over and killed a 4-year-old in a Panama City Beach parking lot and then drove away on Tuesday was arrested, Panama City bBach police said Wednesday.
The child and her family are from Nashville. They were in town on vacation.
Kenneth Ray Martinez is now charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury or death.
Investigators said Martinez was driving a “lifted,” 2018 Ford F-150 in the parking lot of a shopping center when he struck the child. According to his arrest affidavit, Martinez was on the phone with a woman at his home. He told her he thought he struck a dog.
Investigators tracked Martinez down to a home using video surveillance along with license plate readers. They also found a receipt in a trash can that they say proves Martinez was at a grocery store in the shopping center shortly before the crash.
When officers arrived at his home he initially declined to answer the door.
“Martinez refused a blood draw, refused to speak with investigators, and refused consent to search his
phone,” officials wrote in a news release.
They added that his driver’s license lists his address as Rosharaon, Texas. He is scheduled to go to first appearances Wednesday afternoon.
The name of the victim is being withheld at the request of her family.