- November 15, 2024
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Flagler Beach resident Cesar Rojas was walking across State Road 100 after midnight Saturday, Dec. 19 when a man driving on a suspended license struck him with his car, killing him.
Rojas was walking north across S.R. 100 at about 12:30 a.m. while Christopher Joseph Layer, 32, was driving west on S.R. 100 in a 2008 Toyota XD, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.
The left side of the Toyota struck Rojas. Layer stopped the car and called 911 to report a collision, but only later called to turn himself in and tell deputies where the car was — in a parking lot in Daytona Beach Shores. Layer said "that he left the scene because his driver's license was suspended," according to the FHP report.
Layer had been arrested for driving on a suspended license in April 2013 and had been charged with more than a dozen offenses over more than a decade, including repeatedly driving on an expired registration and without proof of insurance, and with a tag not assigned to the vehicle, according to Flagler County court records. The sole passenger in the car, 31-year-old Sean Edward Bertram, had six prior convictions for driving on a suspended license, as well a conviction for DUI, reckless driving and other traffic offenses — more than a dozen in a criminal record spanning a decade. Both men also had prior drug-related arrests, according to county court records.
No one has been arrested, but charges are pending, according to the FHP report.