Florida Connectz-American man on the run for over 20 years following fatal crash arrested in Canada
An American man who had been on the run for over two decades was arrested in Toronto earlier this year, police said.
Patrick Lutts Jr., facing manslaughter charges in Orlando, Florida, in connection to a fatal crash, lived openly in Toronto for 21 years without legal status, according to court documents cited by CBS News partner Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC News).
Toronto police told CBS News that Lutts was arrested in February under the Canadian Extradition Act. He is set to appear in a downtown court later this month, according to CBC News.
In November 2023, an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers in Florida led authorities to suspect Lutts of being in Canada, according to court documents reported by CBC News, which was the first to report his arrest. Lutts was placed under surveillance, and police discovered he was residing in a high-rise apartment building in Toronto.
On the early morning of Christmas Day in 1998, Lutts, who was then 25 years old, allegedly crashed into a vehicle in Orlando, resulting in the deaths of two teenagers: 19-year-old Nancy Lopez and her boyfriend, 18-year-old Darvin Javier DeJesus-Taboada, CBC News reported, citing investigators.
Investigators said the couple was thrown several meters after Lutts, who had “a strong odor of alcohol coming from his breath” following a night of drinking, crashed his pickup truck into their vehicle.” His blood alcohol level was allegedly more than three times the legal limit, CBC News reported.
Lutts was allegedly involved in another impaired driving crash in Connecticut in 2002, CBC News reported, citing court files. He failed to appear for a plea hearing in October 2003, public records show, before disappearing until his recent arrest in Toronto, CBC News reported.
