Homeless Man Killed in Hit-and-Run After Jail Releases Him Without So Much as Bus Fare

The movies would have us believe that an inmate's release from jail is a triumphant departure: sun shining, deep breath of fresh air and a waiting ride home. In reality the scene is usually much bleaker, especially for those individuals released late at night without anywhere safe to go. Those circumstances proved deadly for a young man in Florida who was killed in a hit-and-run accident less than an hour after being released from St. Johns County jail last week.

After waiting nine hours for his release and having missed the last bus, 22-year-old Dominic P. Amodeo was left with no choice but to walk in darkness along the side of the highway, where he was stuck by a pizza delivery car, which promptly sped away. Amodeo was a first-time offender who had spent several weeks in jail and whose vehicle theft charge was set to be dropped.

Norma Wendt, Amodeo's public defender, was shocked to learn how long it had taken to release the young man. But a spokesman for the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office defended the jail's late release of Amodeo, explaining that the standard county booking procedures takes time and is easily interrupted. I'm sure the jail was following typical procedures (which could use some streamlining), but there clearly needs to be a protocol for ensuring that those released have access to safe transportation, especially after hours. The spokesman admitted that Amodeo and others aren't even given bus fare. Considering that Amodeo wasn't the first released inmate to be run-down and killed in Florida, I'd say the procedure merits a serious reevaluation.

That's not all. Amodeo's story takes an even more disturbing turn.

Nicole Jonas, the Domino's delivery driver who allegedly struck and killed Dominic, initially claimed that she "hit a deer or something." (Which, if you ask me, is enough to warrant getting out to check, as opposed to just speeding away.) Investigators found massive damage on the front of Jonas' car, along with a curious "lotion-based" substance and pieces of blue fiber smeared across one side of the vehicle, but when Jonas took the deputy to where the accident supposedly took place, they found nothing.

Then around 2 a.m., the sheriff's office received an anonymous call regarding a dead homeless man on the side of U.S. 1. The caller told police that this wasn't the first time he'd killed a homeless man and it wouldn't be the last. Deputies traced the call to a convenience store pay phone to discover that it had been made by Jonas' boyfriend. The call sounds like a stupid ploy to pin the hit-and-run on an imaginary serial killer, but given that murders of homeless individuals are at an all-time high, the threat should not be taken lightly.

Dominic's distressing tale is sadly an all too common example of the dangers often faced by homeless individuals released from prison; dangers that could be prevented were they provided with critical re-entry services or at the very least, as in Amodeo's case, a safe means of leaving the facility.

H/T to the 13th juror for the story.

Photo credit: Colin Mutchler