New surveillance video connected with a deadly hit-and-run on the Rickenbacker Causeway shows the driver charged with leaving the scene of the accident pulling past his condominium gate guard afterward, as the guard stares at the banged-up Honda Civic with a shattered windshield.
Just before sunrise on Feb. 15, Michele Traverso’s car slammed into cyclists Aaron Cohen and Enda Walsh, leading to Cohen’s death the next day, police said.
Traverso, 25, has pleaded not guilty to charges of leaving the scene of an accident causing serious bodily injury and driving with a suspended license. His attorney has said the only crime Traverso committed was leaving the scene.
The video just released by the State Attorney’s Office shows Traverso pulling into a spot at his Key Biscayne condo. He gets out and walks, back and forth, seemingly a bit unsteady.
Moments later a man in a red shirt walks into view – Traverso’s father, who he lives with.
It looks like both men embrace, the older man rubbing the younger’s back, before they disappear from the frame, presumably checking out the car.
Then they both walk away from the car, looking like they are arguing, the young man shoving the older one.
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Investigators noted in a newly released search warrant affidavit that it was condo security who first called them telling them “a car with heavy damage to the front, hood and roof area entered the complex and parked,” driven by a “young, white male.”
Police said they soon arrived to find a car cover over Traverso’s Honda, whose roof damage could still be seen through it. The right rear view mirror was missing, and police also found yellow scuff marks on the car, which they say was transferred from Cohen’s yellow safety bike helmet.
