Witness says Immokalee driver hit three children on bike and left; kids OK

An Immokalee man who deputies said hit three children on a bicycle with his van and then fled the scene was arrested Thursday.

Bruno Voltaire, 72, faces a misdemeanor charge of hit-and-run — leaving the scene of a crash involving damage to property, according to a Collier County Sheriff's Office arrest report. He was booked at the Immokalee Jail Center and released on $2,000 bond Thursday.

Deputies reported they responded to a report of a crash about 7:15 a.m. in the area of East Eustis Avenue and Fahrney Street. There they found a bicycle "that was all bent up like it had been struck by a vehicle," their report states.

Sheriff's Office dispatch told deputies that the driver of the vehicle didn't stop after striking the bicycle and that a witness was following the driver until he stopped at East Delaware Avenue and Fahrney Street, according to the report.

Deputies said the three children who were struck were a boy, 6; and two girls, 7 and 9.

One of the girls told deputies they were waiting for a school bus on East Eustis Avenue when a van drove down the road and struck the bicycle she was on and drove off. The girl told deputies her brother and sister also were knocked onto the grass and a ditch by the van.

Paramedics evaluated the three siblings and released them at the scene, according to the report.

Deputies then met with the witness, who was waiting by Voltaire's white van. She told deputies that she got out of work and witnessed the van strike a bicycle "with multiple kids on it," according to the report. She then followed the van because the driver never stopped, she said, and described him to deputies.

Deputies said Voltaire told them he was picking up his wife from work and drove west on East Eustis Avenue, approaching Fahrney Street, when he hit something, the report states. Voltaire told deputies "he didn't see what he hit and thought it was just a dog and kept driving," according to the report.

Deputies asked Voltaire why he didn't stop when he hit something. He told them "he didn't see anything on the road so he kept going," the report states.