MARATHON, Fla. — A 24-year-old Marathon woman was being held without bond in the Monroe County Sheriff's Office detention facility in Key West on Sunday after deputies said she struck an occupied vehicle on U.S. 1 in the early hours of Sunday morning, fled from a traffic stop, crashed a second time into a retention wall, and then tried to run from arrest on foot. Riley Wieller, 24, of Marathon was arrested on charges including driving under the influence, hit-and-run, fleeing and eluding, and resisting arrest, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. All of the charges are allegations; Wieller has not been convicted of anything in the case.

Source: Monroe County Sheriff's Office, via The Miami Focal

The episode began just after 3:10 a.m. on Sunday, November 8, when Wieller's vehicle collided with another, occupied vehicle near 39th Street and U.S. 1 in Marathon, the sheriff's office said. She left the scene without stopping, authorities said. Deputies spotted her SUV a short time later and attempted a traffic stop, but she refused to pull over, according to Becky Herrin, a sheriff's office spokesperson.

Source: Monroe County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Becky Herrin, via The Miami Focal

The chase down Sombrero Beach Road

According to Herrin, Wieller fled from the attempted stop down Sombrero Beach Road — the road that runs from U.S. 1 toward Sombrero Beach on the Atlantic side of Marathon — and crashed into a retention wall near Sister's Creek. After the second crash, she got out of the vehicle and tried to run away, and resisted arrest before deputies took her into custody, Herrin said. Jail records showed Wieller was being held at the sheriff's Key West detention facility as of Sunday afternoon with no bond listed, and it was not immediately clear whether she had an attorney.

Source: Monroe County Sheriff's Office / jail records, via The Miami Focal

What is not yet known

The sheriff's office has not released the condition of the people in the vehicle struck in the first crash, or said whether anyone was injured in either crash. It has also not released Wieller's measured blood-alcohol level or other test results; the DUI charge is an allegation that will be tested in court. The investigation is ongoing, and no additional details had been released as of Sunday afternoon.

One road through the Keys

U.S. 1 — the Overseas Highway — is the lone main artery through the Florida Keys, a mostly two-lane road linking the island chain to the mainland, and Marathon sits near its midpoint in the Middle Keys. Every supply truck, fuel tanker, ambulance and commuter in the Keys depends on that single corridor, so a pre-dawn crash or pursuit on U.S. 1 puts other motorists and pedestrians at risk on a roadway with few alternate routes, particularly in the dark hours when visibility is limited — the pattern the sheriff's office's account describes on Sunday morning. For the Punjabi and other South Asian truckers and delivery drivers who run overnight loads down the Overseas Highway to Key West, the case is a pointed reminder of the corridor's narrow margins: one impaired driver on a two-lane causeway leaves oncoming traffic nowhere to go.

Source: The Miami Focal

What happens next

Wieller's case will move through the Monroe County court system from the Key West detention facility, beginning with a first appearance at which a judge can revisit the no-bond status and the conditions of her release. The sheriff's office says its investigation is ongoing; further details, including any information about the occupants of the struck vehicle, are expected to come from the sheriff's office. Awaaz Punjab will update this story as the case develops.