LAKELAND, Fla. – An arrest has been made in the August 8th, 2020 rollover accident that killed 16-year-old Lakeland resident Alexandra Saldana.
Mason Chapman, 16, was arrested on Wednesday, Feb 24, 2021, and charged with Vehicular Homicide.
On Saturday, August 8, 2020, at approximately 10:42 p.m., officers responded to a traffic crash involving a single vehicle near Kathleen Road and West 2nd Street.
According to investigators, a 2002 Chevy pick-up was traveling northbound on Kathleen Road, approaching West 2nd Street when the driver lost control of the vehicle. The truck began sliding on the roadway before hitting a curb and striking a utility pole. The impact caused the truck to flip on its roof, landing in the roadway of West 2nd Street.
Inside the vehicle were three teenagers; the driver age 16, and two passengers, one age 16, and the other age 15.
All occupants were transported to Lakeland Regional Health for treatment.
Officers were informed on August 9th that the 16-year-old rear passenger, Alexandra Saldana, died from her injuries shortly after 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
Mason Chapman was booked into the Polk County jail on Wednesday and was released on $10,000 bail.
Thank you for covering this article for my niece. She was beautiful, brilliant, outgoing smart girl that had an IQ of 140. She was the lead play at school prior to moving down to her dad’s last year. Our lovely baby is now a cremated bag of dust on the kitchen buffet. This arrest does not make it better. But it sure does bring us JUSTICE.
There will be JUSTICE when this 16 year old is sitting in prison and having to remember why he is in prison for, he took the life of a beautiful young lady who was just starting her life . He should be in jail now he should not have freedom to run around ,Alexandra does not have that freedom because of him. Alexandra will never be forgotten.
She wasn’t wearing a seat belt, so don’t think it was just his fault. This 16 year old should learn a lesson and how not to drive in a big truck and receive some form of discipline, but ultimately he should NOT have his entire life ruined from this accident. This is coming from a close family member to Alex, as I do miss her she still has fault in the fact that she did NOT wear a seat belt.