Driver arrested in day care crash
WINTER PARK, Fla. — Four-year-old Lily Quintus loved princesses, “Star Wars” and ranch dressing — on everything — said her mother whose pleas and those of others were answered when a driver police say caused the crash that killed the girl at her Florida day care surrendered.
A manhunt across Florida ended Thursday with the arrest of 28-year-old Robert Alex Corchado. He was charged with leaving the scene of a deadly accident almost precisely 24 hours after the KinderCare facility in Winter Park was torn open in the wreck, killing the girl who was sitting in a classroom awaiting her afternoon snack. Fourteen others were injured, most of them children.
Corchado was being held on $100,000 bond, said the Orange County Corrections Department. His attorney confirmed his client turned himself in but refused further comment and a court date wasn’t immediately set.
Police say Corc-hado, 28, of Winter Park, cras-hed his Dodge Durango into a convertible, which in turn smashed into the KinderCare building. Authorities pleaded for the suspect to give up, even as they blanketed the state searching for him. Nicole Quintus, whose daughter, Lily, was killed, joined those pleas.
Ten people were still hospitalized from the crash Thursday, including one child who remains in critical condition and two others who are listed in serious condition, according to Florida Highway Patrol.
Corchado has been arrested eight times since 2000. Department of Corrections records show he served prison time for trafficking cocaine and extortion.
