WEST PALM BEACH, FL (Palm Beach County) – A Blairstown Township man is facing charges in a fatal hit-and-run death of a homeless man that occurred last year, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Zane Nathan Smith, 43, of Carhart Rd was booked in the Main Detention Center in West Palm Beach on Tuesday evening.
Smith has been charged with hit and run – fail to stop remain at crash involve death, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office booking blotter.
Smith was driving a white Ford F-150 pickup that hit and killed 38-year-old Chauncy Williams on September 2 as he crossed the intersection of Okeechobee Boulevard and Indian Road, the report said.
In late December, a New Jersey woman called sheriff’s authorities to report that Smith admitted to running over and killing someone. Smith was known to abuse drugs, the report said.
Authorities filed the hit-and-run charge against Smith in January after he told sheriff’s authorities he thought he’d hit a dog that September night. He jumped out of his truck to see what he’d hit then “blacked out,” he said. “Deep down inside he knew it was a person,” the report said.
He told authorities “something really bad happened.” Weeks after the wreck, Smith left Florida, where he’d lived for the last two years, most recently near Wellington, and returned to New Jersey, the report said.
Smith is held in the Palm Beach County Jail on a $25,000 bond and be on in-house arrest if released. She also ruled Smith undergo random testing for alcohol and illegal drugs, the report said.
