A Texas woman is accused of speeding through an Atlantic City casino parking garage to throw a man off her hood, and then leaving him unconscious and critically injured before getting in an accident three blocks away.
Police were called to a two-car crash at Pacific and Pennsylvania avenues at about 11:40 a.m. July 6.
Delilah Roldan’s 2011 gray Nissan Altima already had been towed from the scene, so police drove her back to her hotel, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
But what she did not tell police is that it was the second incident she had with her vehicle that morning.
Three blocks from the crash, Officer Eric O’Neill-Knuttel had responded to the Ocean Casino Resort for an unconscious man in the parking garage.
Surveillance video showed the victim get out of the Nissan and then jump on the hood of the car before the driver sped off, throwing the unnamed victim from the hood, the affidavit states.
O’Neill-Knuttel was able to get a photo of the driver from surveillance video, and put out a description of the car and suspect.
Those descriptions matched the woman and car in the crash Officer Danny Rodriguez-Arrendando just left, he told O’Neill-Knuttel.
The woman already had been driven back to her hotel room, the officer said.
Police went to the hotel, which was not identified in the affidavit obtained by BreakingAC, and took Roldan into custody.
She was jailed on charges of second-degree aggravated assault, along with third-degree charges of assault by auto and failure to report an accident with bodily injury.
The victim, whose name was not released, suffered a major head injury with internal bleeding, and fractures to his skull, face and ribs. He had not regained consciousness.
Defense attorney Yvonne Maher objected to a photo put into evidence that showed the victim in a hospital bed.
Judge Pam D’Arcy said he appeared to be intubated.
“I don’t believe it’s relevant and nor do we have any explanation about what’s going on there,” Maher said at Roldan's detention hearing Tuesday. “It’s inflammatory.”
D’Arcy allowed it, but said “the court will give it the weight it deems appropriate.”
Roldan “had numerous chances to report she had knowingly thrown someone from her vehicle” but failed to do so, Assistant Prosecutor John Larson pointed out at her detention hearing Tuesday.
“This was a traumatic incident for her,” Maher told the judge.
She said the 21-year-old woman was visiting from Texas when she met the man, and that he had gotten into the vehicle with her consent.
But things changed after he allegedly became aggressive and agitated, Roldan told Maher, adding that he struck her.
Maher noted that she saw her client had a black eye shortly after her arrest.
“According to both my client and the discovery, he was the one who made the choice to jump on the hood of the vehicle,” Maher said. “This wasn’t a situation where she tried to mow him down or she was actively assaulting him.”
The judge noted the defendant’s age and lack of criminal history in releasing her, which was the recommendation of the public safety assessment that helps determine whether a defendant is detained under bail reform.
“Whether her story pans out or not, she’s 21 and I could see how she panicked,” D’Arcy said. “That is sort of corroborated by the second accident. She wasn’t under the influence.”
But the officer did write in the affidavit that “the defendant appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the offense.”
There was no DUI charge in the court system. Roldan was issued motor vehicle citations for reckless driving, failure to observe a traffic signal, failure to possess a driver’s license and failure to possess a registration, court records show.
Roldan must check in with the court weekly, alternating between telephone calls and in person.
That requirement likely means she will have to take up the offer of a cousin who lives in Atlantic City and that Maher said offered to have Roldan stay with her, if a requirement of release.
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