Update 5:26: a.m. EST Dec. 15: The family of a South Florida woman who died on an interstate highway after falling off a motorcycle is suing the man she met online for a date Dec. 6, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The body of Jennifer Amy St. Clair, 33, was run over several times on I-95 when she fell off the vehicle early Dec. 7.
St. Clair met Miles McChesney on Tinder, an online dating site, the newspaper reported.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in Broward County civil court by Becky St. Clair and Robert Burns, McChesney is accused of being impaired by alcohol and of negligently driving a 2001 Harley Davidson Road King, causing Jennifer St. Clair to fall off, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
According to the suit, McChesney stopped briefly, but drove away without helping St. Clair.
Original report: A Florida woman's first date with a man she met online ended tragically, as her body was found -- run over several times -- on I-95 in Broward County, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
Jennifer Amy St. Clair went on a motorcycle ride with her date and two other couples Thursday around 10 p.m., leaving from her Fort Lauderdale home for a bar 30 miles away in downtown Delray Beach, the newspaper reported.
Family members told WSVN that St. Clair, 33, who was riding on the back of a motorcycle with her date, was heading home when she fell off the bike on a southbound lane of I-95 in Pompano Beach. It is unclear whether she died on impact from her fall, or whether her death was caused by the three cars that subsequently hit her, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
The Florida Highway Patrol confirmed that three vehicles hit St. Clair’s body but has shared very few details, the newspaper reported.
"Part of the FHP investigation is to interview all of the 911 callers and look for surveillance video," Lt. Alvaro Feola, an FHO spokesman, told the Sun-Sentinel on Tuesday.
“We are actively asking for the public to please help us find out any information that we can, relative to the terrible events that took place on Thursday night and into Friday morning,” said Todd Falzone, the attorney for St. Clair’s family. “The family has very limited information.”
Family members told WSVN they believe the man St. Clair rode with left the scene and did not stop to help or call 911.
“We know that the gentleman who was driving the motorcycle that night left the scene of the accident, left her out on the roadway on I-95,” Todd Falzone told the television station. “It doesn’t get much worse.”
One of the drivers involved in the crash said he was unable to brake in time and called 911 after he made contact.
“Laying across the road was what looked to be a body, and I couldn’t react in time and I ran it over,” said the driver, who spoke in front of a news camera but didn’t give his name. “I came to a stop as fast as I could.”
The driver said he spoke with a man on a motorcycle near the scene.
"I opened the door, and I asked him, 'Is that a person laying in the road?'" the driver told WSVN. "He said, 'Yes. She's dead.'"
The motorcyclist fled moments later, the driver told the television station.
"As I was waiting, other traffic came along and ran her over again and again, and no one stopped," the witness told the Sun-Sentinel. "Only three people stopped. And I can't believe people can run over a body in the road and not stop."
Falzone told the newspaper that the name of St. Clair’s date has not been confirmed, but he is hoping that witnesses will corroborate his identity.
"We know and we are confident there are many people out in the public who know about this event, who have information about this event, who saw them out there that night, who saw what happened on I-95 that evening," Falzone told the Sun-Sentinel.
"Unimaginable. We don't know how anybody could do something like that. That's the hardest, hardest part," St. Clair's aunt, Amy Gamber, told WSVN. "It sounds like my niece was left there. She didn't deserve that by any means."
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