Driver with suspended license arrested in hit-and-run crash that left bicyclist dead: Police

TAMPA, Fla. - The driver accused of hitting and killing a bicyclist in Tampa has turned herself in three days after the fatal hit-and-run crash, officers said. 

The Tampa Police Department said 28-year-old Dameisha Tyana Ceasar was arrested by detectives Friday afternoon. She was booked into the Orient Road Jail for leaving the scene of a crash involving death and driving without a valid driver's license. 

Pictured on the right: Darrell Lee Lawson. 

Officers responded to the 1900 block of East 21st Avenue in Tampa on Tuesday, which is where they found the bicyclist, Darrell Lee Lawson, unresponsive in the road after being struck by a car. Investigators said he died from his injuries that night. 

READ: Car strikes bicyclist in fatal hit-and-run in Tampa

That same night, Ceasar was borrowing a 2023 blue Toyota Corolla to go to the store, according to TPD. Ceasar later called her family yelling that she hit something, officials said. 

Officials with the police department released graphic video of the hit-and-run crash that showed the Lawson's bicycle flying into the air after he was hit. After seeing the video, her family contacted detectives with information about Ceasar's involvement in the hit-and-run crash, TPD said. 

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Investigators said they recovered the vehicle in Plant City on Thursday. They also said they learned Ceasar's driver's license was suspended in June 2013 and had two subsequent suspensions in 2015.

The suspect turned herself in to TPD detectives on Friday.