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Greg Hertzing
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Destin man this afternoon in connection with a hit and run accident that injured a bicyclist on Highway 98 earlier today.
The victim was riding his back eastbound near Restaurant Row when he was struck. 67-year old Stephen Bills of Texas was thrown into the air and then hit the pavement in the turn lane near Silver Shells Beach Resort. The driver of the red Nissan pickup truck that hit him went on about another quarter mile, then stopped to assess the damage to his truck before getting back in and leaving.
Bills was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital of the Emerald Coast with serious injuries. OCSO deputies were able to use a witness’s information and other means to track down a possible suspect. A deputy located 47-year old Greg Hertzing of Sibert Avenue at his residence. Hertzing denied being in a collision but the deputy noted damage to Hertzing’s red Nissan pickup, including a missing passenger side mirror. The deputy held up the mirror and two pieces of a headlight assembly from the crash scene and they matched the damage to Hertzing’s truck identically.
Hertzing later admitted to being involved in a collision in the area around Highway 98 and Restaurant Row but said he was unsure what he hit so he didn’t call law enforcement. Hertzing is charged with leaving the scene of a collision involving serious injury without rendering aid.
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