John Jefferson
Left inset: Rebekah Tate. Main: a police photo shows a motorcycle trapped under a vehicle after the crash (West Melbourne Police Department).
Days after a motorcyclist was seriously injured in a crash in West Melbourne, Florida, the ballroom dancer who allegedly hit into him and kept on driving with the bike underneath her vehicle was arrested for leaving the scene and trying to tamper with evidence in a car dealership parking lot.
Rebekah Makenzie Tate, a 24-year-old from Palm Bay, in the early morning hours of Sept. 1, the Sunday on Labor Day weekend, while driving on U.S. Route 192 is accused of crashing into a 34-year-old man on a motorcycle at an intersection, a collision that sent him and his helmet flying and left him with “life threatening injuries” in the “middle of the roadway,” according to the West Melbourne Police Department.
Rather than stopping at the West New Haven Avenue and Dairy Road scene and attempting to render aid or calling the cops, authorities said, Tate kept on driving in a 2015 Toyota RAV4 — with the victim’s motorcycle underneath her car — and made an “attempt to hide” in the parking lot of Coastal Hyundai.
The arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime alleges that while the victim was suffering from “serious bodily injuries,” including “several bone fractures and other injuries,” Tate was caught on camera at the dealership trying and failing to “remove the motorcycle from the front of the vehicle[.]” Cops shared a photo from later on of the motorcycle still under the suspect’s car later.
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This tampering effort, cops said, “was met with negative results,” but for investigators, it was enough for them to allege that Tate left the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury, a felony, and that she attempted to “[a]lter, destroy, conceal, or remove any record, document, or other item with the purpose to impair its verity or availability in such proceeding or investigation” — also a felony.
At the scene of the dealership, Tate was allegedly caught on video talking on her cell phone before another car, described as a black sedan, soon picked her up.
“Shortly after, the defendant is seen running in the parking lot of Coastal Hyundai when law enforcement arrive and leaves the area in a vehicle that shows up,” the affidavit said. “The defendant did not call 911 or stay on the scene of the crash. The defendant left without providing aide or any information.”
As of three days ago, the victim was said to be in critical condition.
Following her arrest on Wednesday, Brevard County Jail records indicate that Tate’s bond on the two charges was set at a total of $17,500 and she was released from custody.
Rebekah Tate (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office).
An arraignment has been set for 8 a.m. on Oct. 1, court records say.
Law&Crime sought comment from Tate’s defense lawyer of record Steven Casanova.
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