Akron police have filed felony charges against a 45-year-old Akron woman in the hit-and-run crash that killed 35-year-old Jaymeeson Franklin in the city’s Highland Square neighborhood last month. The department announced the charges against Monique Martin-Lateef in a news release issued Monday, Oct. 5.
Franklin was crossing West Market Street near Highland Avenue around 2 a.m. on Sept. 26 when a westbound Chrysler 300 struck him and fled the scene, police said. The car then hit two parked vehicles and a Buick Encore. The 57-year-old driver of the Buick was hospitalized with serious injuries that police described as non-life-threatening.
Martin-Lateef is charged with four felony counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, along with misdemeanor counts of having an open container in a moving vehicle, refusing to submit to testing for operating a vehicle under the influence, reckless operation, speeding and seat belt violations. Investigators obtained a search warrant to collect blood and urine samples, which will be tested by the Ohio State Highway Patrol crime laboratory.
Martin-Lateef remains hospitalized for injuries she suffered in the crash and is not in police custody, according to the release. The case now moves through the Summit County court system as prosecutors review the evidence gathered in the nine days since the crash.
