Volvo driver arrested in November hit-and-run fatality

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Margaret Caitlin Walker, 29, turned herself in today and has been charged with DUI manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death; Gainesville Police Department detectives determined that Walker was the driver of the Volvo XC-90 that struck and killed a bicyclist on S. Main Street on November 27, 2022.

A pedestrian discovered the body of the victim on the morning of November 28, along with the badly-damaged bicycle. The Volvo was located on November 30 and was impounded; Walker’s co-worker was driving it at the time.

Detectives identified Walker by obtaining subpoenas and warrants that granted them access to geolocation data; that information was used to confirm that Walker had been drinking at a number of establishments on the night of the accident.

  • As I said in another post minimum of 20 years lost of license for life takes a sorry SOB to just drive off like she did

  • Walker’s co-worker was driving it at the time?
    Sounds like her designated driver is at fault.

  • Even drink driving laws don’t work 100% of the time, sad. But is there a bike lane on that part of S. Main near Biven’s Arm park? Was the cyclist riding on the roadway, and is it a “bike-shared” section?

    • There is a sidewalk that would make the most sense to use on a dark highway in the middle of the night.

      • You too? You don’t think there’s something wrong with your comment?

        • My comment doesn’t excuse getting crashed into and being left to die. But don’t be afraid to use a little common sense, especially if it might save your life.

      • yes, we should all try to make the streets safer for people to drive drunk on the roadways

    • She left the scene of an accident! That’s not even relevant.
      Don’t deflect.

  • Reasonable Doubt
    Geo-Historical Data is merely circumstantial evidence.

    Any delay in chemical analysis of body fluids obtained, compromises the State’s case.

    A
    Traffic Homicide Investigator
    Traffic Crash Reconstructionist
    Expert Witness

    • Pat: she killed him and left. Her car didn’t drive itself. No reasonable doubt there.

      • I think Pat clearly said she was referring to body fluids saying any delay in analyzing them compromises the states case and that sounds like common sense to me.

        I agree with her too when she says Geo-Historical Data is circumstantial it doesn’t prove who was driving the car.

      • Not defending her but the argument is someone else was driving her car, and she’s taking the fault. With that said, she shouldn’t have left the scene, obviously.

    • Saying that she was stone cold sober and decided not to stop driving after she hit a bicyclist might be even worse. “They served me too much” is probably her best defense, if there is any.

  • She is/was a bartender downtown, yet another incident where a reckless drunk cost someone their life. Similar to what happened to the girl who was killed on University Ave, service industry employee, fled the scene after he ran her over.

    • She’s apparently a Republican, Josh F. definitely is not. It was a student who killed the guy on 34th Street. I wouldn’t try so hard to over-generalize. Service workers are often the victims of crimes late at night. Not sure what the point of trying to demonize service workers is.

      • What does a person being republican or democrat have to do with someone running a person over and leaving the scene? Sounds like logical fallacy, distracting from the main topic in this discussion and trying to make it political.

        • They want you to believe they don’t drink and drive 😂 just like they don’t take classified papers when they leave office

  • I’m sure there will be a plea of no contest some months later. Regardless of the sentence, I hope the judge invokes the provision in Florida law in which reckless drivers can be made to perform community service in a trauma center or hospital that regularly receives accident victims so that Miss Walker can get a good look at the burden on the hospital staff, along with cleaning up blood and hauling remains to the hospital’s morgue.

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