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St. Petersburg man facing charges for June fatal crash

 
Published Oct. 6, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG — Police arrested a St. Petersburg man on charges of leaving the scene of a June auto accident in which an 81-year-old man was killed.

Arrested was Keith Jamal Hamm, 22, of 5400 First Ave. S, Apt. 8, according to the St. Petersburg police. He is charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crash with death.

Hamm had been on the run since the June 4 accident. Police said they received a tip Monday that he was at an apartment complex in southern St. Petersburg. Undercover units checked the area and found Hamm sitting inside a blue Honda Accord.

The accident happened at the intersection of 15th Avenue and 25th Street S when, police say, a 2014 silver Nissan Altima driven northbound on 25th by Hamm ran a stop sign. The Nissan crashed into the right side of a 1997 white Toyota Camry driven by Anna Melendez, 62, of St. Petersburg. The Toyota flipped onto the driver's side and crashed into a chain link fence on the northeast corner of the intersection.

Mrs. Melendez, her husband, Tomas, who was in the passenger seat, and their son, Daniel, who was in the back seat, were taken to Bayfront Hospital. Mrs. Melendez and Daniel Melendez, 24, were treated and released. Mr. Melendez, 81, was pronounced dead on arrival.

Hamm fled the scene on foot.

Hamm has past arrests for drug possession, battery and auto theft. Police said that, before the June accident, he had been released from prison after serving a three-year, seven-month term for attempted armed robbery, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, and carrying a concealed firearm.

He remained in the Pinellas County Jail late Monday on $300,000 bond, according to jail records.