New Year's Eve Hit-And-Run Driver Arrested: FHP

RUSKIN, FL — The man accused of striking a 13-year-old bicyclist in a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban on New Year’s Eve and then fleeing the scene has been brought into custody.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies caught up with Jorge Soria just before 10:40 a.m. Thursday at a home in the 300 block of 24th Street Southeast in Ruskin. Soria, 35, made a “minor and futile attempt to hide behind a mobile home in the area,” a March 9 email from the patrol said.

Soria was connected to the Dec. 31 crash following a number of tips received through Crime Stoppers, the patrol said. The Suburban was recovered back in February from a home in the 2600 block of 39th Avenue Southeast.

Soria, however, remained elusive until Thursday when another Crime Stoppers tip came in alerting deputies to his possible whereabouts, the patrol said.

Soria was brought to the Hillsborough County Jail to on a felony traffic warrant out of Manatee County, the patrol noted. Troopers intend to charge him with leaving the scene of a crash with serious injury and driving on a suspended license as a habitual traffic offender.

The crash that led to the manhunt for Soria happened just before 7:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. Troopers say the Suburban was heading south on U.S. 41, south of State Road 674. At that time, Cameron Fuller, 13, was crossing U.S. 41 from west to east just south of the marked crosswalk.

Troopers say the Suburban’s driver failed to see the bicyclist, struck the teen and kept on going.

Fuller was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital after the crash with critical injuries. The boy was released from the hospital a few weeks ago, Sgt. Steve Gaskins said on Thursday, and is “doing well.”

Photos courtesy of the Florida Highway Patrol