Mia Camille Dawson, DUI driver arrested in hit and run that killed LSU student & fiancee walking near Baton Rouge campus. Victims id as Metaire engaged couple, Leah Victoria Fonte and Shane David Hirstius. Louisiana State University and Third District Volunteer Fire Department issue statements as tragedy remains under investigation.
Louisiana authorities have arrested a DUI driver in connection with a crash that killed an LSU student and her fiancé, a River Ridge firefighter, near the Baton Rouge campus early Sunday (Oct. 18), officials said.
Mia Camille Dawson, 20, was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges of operating while impaired, reckless operation of a vehicle, hit-and-run driving, vehicular homicide and vehicular negligent injuring, police said.
The victims were identified as Leah Victoria Fonte, 21, and Shane David Hirstius, 21. Fonte died at the scene. Hirstius was transported to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries, the Baton Rouge Police Department stated in a release.
The couple were making their way home after earlier celebrating a friend’s birthday when they were struck, FOX8 reported citing police.
Police said Dawson was driving a 2016 Nissan Rogue southbound on Nicholson Drive around 2:40 a.m. when she veered off the road and struck Fonte and Hirstius, who were walking on the right shoulder of the roadway in the 5000 block of Nicholson Drive. Shortly after the crash, BRPD uniformed officers made contact with Dawson in the 1900 block of Nicholson Drive.
Fonte was a senior at Louisiana State University (LSU) studying biological sciences on a pre-dental track, according to a released statement from Jefferson Parish.
‘The LSU family is grieving today after learning of this tragic accident involving our student Leah Fonte,’ LSU chancellor Jim Dalton said in the statement. ‘Resources across campus, including counselors with LSU Cares, are already available to our entire community. We collectively join in supporting the Fonte family and Leah’s friends as they navigate this most difficult time.’
The Third District Volunteer Fire Department said Hirstius was one of its operators/firefighters and remembered him as a dedicated first responder.
A Give In Kind account has been set up to help support the family.
The circumstances of the crash remain ongoing.
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