Gainesville man charged with leaving the scene of crash that seriously injured motorcycle rider

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jayson Michael Martin, 33, was arrested early this morning after allegedly leaving the scene of a crash that seriously injured a motorcycle rider; he was also charged with driving without a license with serious injury.

At about 3:25 a.m. on March 15, Martin was allegedly driving a vehicle that was involved in a crash with a motorcycle in the 1700 block of NW 16th Avenue; he allegedly tried to drive away from the scene immediately after the crash, but the vehicle was too damaged to travel more than a few blocks, so he allegedly abandoned it in the driveway of a business near NW 16th Avenue and NW 13th Street, fled on foot, and failed to report the crash.

The motorcycle rider reportedly suffered serious injuries, including multiple broken bones and a possible traumatic brain injury.

The owner of the vehicle reportedly told a responding Gainesville Police Department officer that Martin had been driving her vehicle all day on March 14 and into the early morning hours on March 15. She reportedly showed the officer a text message she sent Martin at 2:13 a.m. on March 15 that said, “Bring my car back. I keep calling you and you not answering it’s 2:13 in the morning.”

Martin reportedly called the vehicle’s owner at 3:28 a.m. and told her he had crashed her car and left it across from Georgetown Apartments and she needed to come get it. The owner, who lives near the scene of the crash, reportedly walked over to her vehicle and briefly spoke with a GPD officer, but he had to go to the scene of the crash to help the victim, who required an ambulance. While the officer was with the victim, Martin allegedly walked away, heading eastbound on NW 16th Avenue.

The officer reported that although Martin left the vehicle owner at the scene, leaving the impression she had been driving the vehicle, the Life360 app showed that she was at her residence at the time of the crash.

Surveillance video from the nearby CVS reportedly showed someone matching Martin’s description walking eastbound along NW 16th Avenue at 3:35 a.m., which correlates with the brief contact the officer had with him at 3:34 a.m.

At about 12:25 a.m. on March 16, an officer found Martin at the vehicle owner’s apartment, and post Miranda, Martin reportedly said he had been at a friend’s residence at Horizon House Apartments when someone called the vehicle owner, who was at her residence, and told her that her vehicle had been involved in a crash. He said the vehicle owner had called him from the scene of the crash and asked him to go get her son from her apartment. He said he went to her apartment, picked up her son, and took him to her on NW 16th Avenue. The officer noted that he knew this was false because he had briefly spoken with Martin at the vehicle within minutes of the crash. The officer also noted that he checked both Martin’s and the vehicle owner’s phones, and there was no call from the vehicle owner to Martin in that time frame.

The vehicle owner reportedly told the officer that after she first walked to where her vehicle was, she got a ride from someone else to her apartment and then walked back to her vehicle with her son. The person who gave her the ride reportedly corroborated her story, and the Life360 app reportedly showed the vehicle owner going from her apartment to her vehicle, back home, and then back to her vehicle again, which supported her statement.

Martin reportedly told the officer that after he took the vehicle owner’s son to her, a relative picked him up and he spent the night at her house. However, the officer reported that the relative said that was untrue and that she hadn’t seen Martin since about 5 p.m. on March 14.

According to the officer, Martin eventually admitted he had been with the vehicle with the officer arrived, but he “vehemently” denied driving. When asked who was driving, he reportedly said he wasn’t a snitch. When challenged about his statement that he had only gone to the vehicle to bring the vehicle owner’s son to her, Martin reportedly returned to his previous statement that he had never been with the vehicle.

The officer reported that Martin told the vehicle owner he was driving her vehicle when the motorcyclist passed his vehicle and clipped the vehicle and that after he left the scene, he went to her apartment, where he sat on the steps and waited for her to come home. He reportedly sent the vehicle owner a text message at 4:25 a.m. that said, “I’m here,” contradicting his statement to the officer that he had spent the night at his relative’s house.

The victim reportedly told medical staff that someone pulled in front of her motorcycle, causing her to crash, but by the time she was interviewed by law enforcement, she did not remember the crash.

Martin has previously been convicted of knowingly driving without a valid license, and his license was indefinitely canceled in 2021.

Martin has been charged with failing to stop at the scene of a crash involving serious injury and driving without a valid license with serious injury. He has four felony convictions (three violent) and eight misdemeanor convictions (three violent). He has served two state prison sentences and was released in October 2024 after serving three years after he was arrested for threatening to kill his stepfather and pled to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Judge Luis Bustamante set bail at $100,000 on the new charges.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.