Naples councilman and wife leave scene of an accident
"When the officer interviewed
The incident happened at approximately
The driver of the car, later identified as
Anastasia saw the vanity plates that read "NP CHIC" on the back of the black 2015 Mercedes-Benz GLK and reported the car to police.
When police showed up at the Buxton residence around
"(
Vehicle photos taken by police show scraping on the Buxton's Mercedes on the left side of the front bumper and scraping on Anastasia's right rear fender. The incident citation estimated total damages at
"We took a cloth and wiped it off," Buxton said about the scrape marks.
"Had we felt anything we would have stopped," he said. "We didn't feel a thing. That's why we drove off."
In an interview, Anastasia said police told him there was surveillance video evidence of the accident. The city confirmed there are surveillance cameras at the intersection, but a public records request for the video was denied because the surveillance footage is written over with other incidents every month.
Finman said he hadn't seen footage of the incident and didn't know if someone in the department had reviewed it before it was deleted.
"They're wrong," he said. "I think he's got somebody of importance and he's harassing them."
Anastasia said he didn't know Buxton was a councilman until he was notified by a reporter.
When asked if Anastasia's statement to police was enough for a criminal charge, Finman said, "That could be considered probable cause."
"But to make an arrest or give a notice to appear, there has to be intent," he added.
Finman said the decision to bring a criminal charge on a hit-and-run incident typically lies with a road sergeant who supervise traffic incidents, but didn't know what supervisor handled the Buxton case.
The
In an April incident that was also handled by Collins, records show a criminal charge brought against a woman who denied hitting a car while pulling into a space at the mall parking garage. Police estimated damages at
Anastasia said
"Anyone who thinks that -- they can check our record," he said. "They can check what we do. They can see we're not the type of person to drive off. We're well known in the community."
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