St. Petersburg man was going 101 mph in 35-mph zone before fatal crash, police say

A St. Petersburg man has been arrested on multiple charges, including vehicular homicide, in connection with an October traffic crash in which a motorcyclist was killed.

Eric Lavghun Dennis, 30, was arrested Monday in connection with the crash, which occurred about 2:45 a.m. Oct. 14 near 62nd Avenue N and 55th Street in Pinellas Park.

In arrest reports, police said Dennis was going 101 mph in a residential area with a 35-mph speed limit just prior to the crash. He was driving a red Camaro, police reported in a news release after the crash.

A man and a woman were on the motorcycle. The woman was killed and the man suffered serious injuries, including “multiple bone fractures and a brain bleed,” police wrote in the reports.

Dennis left the scene on foot, “leaving both victims lying in the roadway and not summoning assistance,” reports state.

But police said they found Dennis’ fingerprints at the scene and also used cellphone records and video surveillance footage to build enough evidence to make an arrest.

Dennis faces charges that include vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash involving death and leaving the scene of a crash with serious injury. He was being held at the Pinellas County jail Tuesday without bail, records show.

Dennis has been arrested or cited for driving without a license or with a suspended license nine times, court records show. He also has been arrested or cited more than a dozen times for careless driving, speeding, driving without headlights, running stop signs, fleeing police and other charges.

After the crash, the red Camaro also hit a street sign and Our Lady of Good Hope church.

Police said both the man and the woman on the motorcycle were taken to a hospital, where the woman died.

Police wrote in the arrest reports filed Tuesday that the injured man remains hospitalized and is “permanently mentally incapacitated.”