The incident happened on a Monday afternoon in Florida, USA. The Florida police responded to a hit-and-run in the 500 block of Northwest Prima Vista Boulevard when the victim, Anna Preston, said she was struck from behind by a black vehicle that took off. Preston was taken to the hospital with back injuries. Around the same time, police dispatch got an automated call from a vehicle emergency system stating the owner of a Ford vehicle was involved in a crash and to press zero to speak with the occupants of the vehicle. When the call was made to the person in the vehicle, Cathy Bernstein, she told the dispatch that there had been no accident. She added that someone pulled out in front of her and that she was going home. She also said she had not been drinking and didn’t know why her vehicle had called for help. However, when the police visited Bernsteins’s house for further investigations, they found that vehicle had suffered extensive front-end damage and silver paint from Preston’s vehicle on it. Further the police also found that the airbag in Bernsteins’s care had also been deployed. After the investigations, the police again questioned Bernstein based on her damaged car. Bernsteins now changed her statement and said that she had struck a tree. After a detailed questioning by the police, Bernstein admitted to the hit-and-run. She also admitted that she had talked to someone at Ford and told them she had not been in an accident. It was later discovered that Bernstein had been involved in another accident prior to the one with Preston and was fleeing from that incident. Bernstein was arrested and taken to the St. Lucie County Jail.
