Jonathan Matos Morales can say goodbye to his promising baseball career after he was arrested by Florida police after causing a fatal accident and fleeing the scene instead of helping the victim, a father named Owen Facey, who was killed instantly.
The accident occurred when the Puerto Rican's black Ford Mustang collided with a Chevy Trailblazer on Interstate 75 in Manatee County last Monday morning. After the crash, the Chevy traveled a few meters and collided with the truck driven by Facey. The player, who was uninjured, left the scene of the accident and has now been charged with vehicular homicide and failure to render aid. He remains in a Florida jail, according to various media reports.
The Atlanta Braves, the club to which the player belonged, cooperated with the authorities in the arrest and investigation of the events. "We are aware that a player who was previously part of our minor league system is under investigation in connection with a fatal accident that occurred yesterday in Manatee County," the club said in a statement.
"Our franchise is fully cooperating with authorities and will have no further comment at this time. Our condolences are with the families of all involved," the Braves said.
This was the arrest of Jonathan Matos Morales
Agent Ken Watson told Fox 13 that "Morales' Mustang was seen weaving in and out of traffic" at high speed before causing the crash. The Atlanta Braves organization contacted the Florida Highway Patrol to inform them that they had possibly found the vehicle within their complex. "They indicated that they were pretty sure (99.9%) that they had the vehicle," Watson said.
"We immediately dispatched agents to the scene, contacted the Braves' legal team and were able to confirm that this was the vehicle we were looking for, and then we were able to quickly arrest the suspect driver," the agent said. The player had been with Cangrejeros de Santurce, a team in Puerto Rico's baseball league.