A 42-year-old Ocala woman who was accused of leaving the scene of a 2024 crash that claimed the life of an elderly man riding in a grocery cart was sentenced to jail this week after pleading no contest to many crimes.
On Wednesday, February 18, Mary Pate Wise was sentenced to ten years in jail, with credit for 718 days already served, in connection with the fatal March 2024 crash.
Prior to her sentencing, Wise pleaded nolo contendere (no contest) to the following charges: leaving the site of a fatal crash, leaving the scene of an injury crash, and leaving the scene of a property damage accident.
On March 2, 2024, at approximately 11:05 p.m., a Chevrolet pickup truck was going westbound on Spring Road, at the intersection with Spring Place in Silver Springs Shores. The driver was identified as Wise, according to a Florida Highway Patrol investigation.
At the time, a 49-year-old Ocala man was riding a tricycle eastbound on Spring Road, pulling a shopping cart occupied by an 84-year-old Ocala man.
According to the report, the right front portion of the pickup truck struck the tricycle and shopping cart. Following the initial impact, Wise retreated in a westerly direction.
The elderly occupant of the shopping cart died at the site as a result of his injuries. The report described the cyclist’s injuries as “serious.”
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office promptly spotted Wise in the same neighborhood where the crash occurred. According to the FHP report, Wise’s pickup truck was positively identified as the hit-and-run vehicle after parts retrieved at the scene of the collision matched the damage to her vehicle.
Furthermore, the article stated that a nearby property had captured the crash on video security footage, which helped investigators definitively identify Wise’s pickup truck as the vehicle involved in the fatal collision.
When Wise was informed of her Miranda rights, she acknowledged driving the pickup truck at the time of the accident while first claiming that she “believed [that] she had struck a mailbox or another object in the road,” according to the FHP.
Wise was arrested and booked into Marion County Jail on March 3, 2024, and remained there for nearly two years while her case was being resolved.
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