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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 19, 2009

An anonymous tip led Polk County deputies to arrest a woman in connection with a hit-and-run accident that killed a 17-year-old girl Friday night.

Deputies arrested Candy Cummings, 20, of Davenport, on Sunday and charged her with leaving the scene of a fatal accident and driving without a valid license, the Polk County Sheriff's office said.

She was released Sunday from the Polk County Jail on bail of $15,500, jail records show.

Investigators are looking into possible charges against her husband, whom the sheriff's office said was also in the car when Cummings is accused of hitting Samantha Hasting, sometime between 6:30 p.m. and midnight Friday. The sheriff's office did not identify the husband.

The sheriff's office said the victim left home about 6:30 p.m. Friday to walk less than a mile to a friend's house. Her mother and her friend found her body across the top of a barbed-wire fence on Bradbury Road about midnight.

The mother had sent her daughter text messages at 9 p.m., but her daughter hadn't replied, the sheriff's office said. The friend also became concerned by about midnight when she realized Hasting had left to visit her hours earlier.

Based upon evidence at the scene, investigators think Hasting was walking north on Bradbury Road, south of Hinson Avenue, when she was struck from behind and thrown about 75 feet into the fence, the sheriff's office said.

Her belongings and debris from the impact were scattered about 150 feet.

The sheriff's office received a tip about 11:45 p.m. Saturday that a car with damage to the front passenger side was in Davenport.

The sheriff's office arrest affidavit said Candy Cummings told deputies she and her husband were visiting family members Friday night in Haines City near the accident scene and left about 6:45 p.m.

She also told deputies she hit something while driving her husband's 1992 Mercury Grand Marquis north on Bradbury Road but did not report the accident because she did not have a valid license and had never possessed a driver license, the affidavit said.

She told deputies she hoped she's hit a large dog, according to the affidavit. The impact knocked off a side mirror and caved in the windshield, the affidavit said.

Robber Uses Paper Towel To Hide His Face

A convenience store was robbed early Sunday morning by a man who used a paper towel to cover his face, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

Detectives say the man entered the bathroom of a gas-station store at 14581 U.S. 27, came out with a paper towel covering his face and demanded money from the clerk.

After threatening to shoot the employee, the man got an undisclosed amount of cash and left the store shortly after 2 a.m. in a blue four-door sedan, probably a mid-1990s model. The car was seen going south on U.S. 27.

The man is described as black, about 30 years old, 6-feet 2-inches tall and 220 pounds.

He was wearing blue jeans, a white T-shirt with a black design on it and a black baseball cap.

Anyone with information can call Polk County sheriff's detective Mike Evans at (863) 534-6379 or 1-800-226-0344.

Polk County Fire Forces Family From Home

Firefighters in Polk County extinguished a blaze that damaged a house in Lakeland and left a family of four without a home Sunday morning.

Firefighters were called to the two-story house at 9310 Redhawk Bend Drive about 8:47 a.m. and found it engulfed in flames, the Polk County Public Safety department said.

The parents and their two children, got out without injuries. Fire officials said damage was confined to less than half the house.

The family sought help from the Red Cross.

About 25 personnel from Polk County Fire and Rescue and the Lakeland Fire Department responded to the fire.

The state Fire Marshal's Office is investigating.

A staff report

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