Left inset: Xavier Rigby (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Kjersten Aileen-Hermance Strang (Facebook). Background: The area of 49th Street and 10th Avenue South in Gulfport, Fla., where Xavier Rigby allegedly mowed down Kjersten Aileen-Hermance Strang and killed her (Google Maps).
A drunk Florida man allegedly mowed down a woman who was riding an “E-bike” and then drove for “approximately eight blocks” with her body on the windshield of his Nissan Altima before she was “dislodged” and left for dead, cops say.
Xavier Rugby, 22, is charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death, vehicular homicide leaving the scene, and DUI manslaughter for the Saturday night slaying of St. Petersburg resident Kjersten Aileen-Hermance Strang, 38, according to a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office press release.
Strang was traveling on 49th Street South in Gulfport when she was struck by Rugby at around 10 p.m., per police. She died of her injuries at the scene.
“Rigby was driving a 2021 Nissan Altima south on 49th Street, approaching 10th Avenue South, at a high rate of speed,” the sheriff’s office says. “Investigators say Rigby struck Strang, causing her to be ejected from her E-bike, landing on the windshield of the vehicle. Rigby continued driving for approximately eight blocks before Strang was dislodged from the vehicle.”
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Instead of stopping, Rigby allegedly sped away from the scene “without calling 911 or waiting for police and fire rescue.” Officers with the St. Petersburg Police Department eventually caught up with him near 2222 49th Street South in St. Petersburg and tried testing him for DUI.
“Rigby showed signs of impairment and refused to cooperate with field sobriety tests,” the PCSO release says. Rigby was arrested soon after and transported to the Pinellas County Jail, where he remained behind bars Sunday.
“Heaven gained one of the most beautiful (inside and out) angels who loved life to the fullest,” Strang’s aunt and godmother wrote on Facebook Sunday. “[Strang] was just getting her life back together when a drunk driver struck her while she was riding her bike in Gulfport, FL. The person in the car fled the scene. Please pray for our family as we mourn her passing.”
