Naples councilman and wife leave scene of an accident

Sept. 17--A driver involved in a car accident with Naples City Councilman Reg Buxton said Buxton and his wife knowingly left the scene after their Mercedes SUV scraped his Toyota sedan while heading south on U.S. 41, causing minor damage.

Naples police didn't bring a hit-and-run charge because they couldn't prove the Buxtons knew they hit somebody before they drove off, said Lt. Seth Finman, a police spokesman.

"When the officer interviewed Mrs. Buxton, there was no intent that she had knowledge that she was involved in a crash," Finman said about Sandra Buxton, the councilman's wife who was driving during the incident on Friday, Aug. 12. "How can anybody be upset when a person says we didn't know we were involved in a crash?"

Sandra Buxton, 70, was ticketed only for an "improper lane change." She paid a $163 fine on Sept. 2.

The incident happened at approximately 5:40 p.m. In a sworn statement to police, Francis "Julien" Anastasia, 22, said he was coming to a stop at the intersection of U.S. 41 and Seventh Avenue North when a car that was changing lanes hit the back of his 2004 Toyota Camry.

The driver of the car, later identified as Sandra Buxton, "saw us pointing to pull over," Anastasia told police, but "then started accelerating and drove off."

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 7:30 p.m., the Buxtons said they didn't realize they were in an accident.

"(Sandra Buxton) stated she didn't feel any impact and continued southbound on U.S. 41 N.," Officer Jason Collins wrote in his report.

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 $500. Anastasia said his insurance company hasn't assessed his car yet.

Reg Buxton, 72, who was elected to his first council term in March, said the damage to his car was minimal.

"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.

Reg Buxton denied Anastasia's account of the accident and suggested it was exaggerated because of his position as an elected official.

"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 Naples Daily News requested police reports from the five most-recent hit-and-run incidents prior to Buxton's case in which citations or notices were issued.

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 $1,000. The woman pleaded not guilty to leaving the scene of a crash involving damages, court records show. The charge was later dropped when she agreed to 24 hours of community service and paid $225 for three month's of probation fees.

Anastasia said Sandra Buxton should have paid a "more severe" penalty than her $163 fine.

Reg Buxton, who is also the publisher of the Life in Naples magazine, denied that he or his wife received special treatment by police.

"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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