PANAMA CITY — It took a Bay County jury about one hour Friday to find Tarrance Harrell guilty of vehicular homicide in a fatal 2011 car crash in Panama City.

Harrell, 22, was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by 15 years probation. He was driving a speeding car that crashed at U.S. Business 98 and North Cove Boulevard shortly after 4 a.m. on Oct. 22, 2011. The crash split the vehicle in two and killed 23-year-old passenger Danielle Guilford, a certified nursing assistant and mother of two young children. Harrell, Guilford and others in the car had been partying at Club DejaVu in Panama City. Harrell was on probation for drug and gun charges at the time, and was found guilty Friday of violating that probation.

Harrell was initially charged with DUI manslaughter, but that charge was dropped. Police reported Harrell’s blood-alcohol content was .059 after the incident, which is below the legal limit.

During the trial, defense attorney Jean Marie Downing would not concede that Harrell was driving the vehicle. She also questioned the credibility of witness Miah Hill, Harrell’s cousin, who was a passenger in the crash. Hill initially had lied to police and said she was the driver, and later testified that she was trying protect Harrell because he was on probation. 

Hill was intoxicated during the crash, and state prosecutor Robert Sale argued that when Harrell saw police testing her blood-alcohol content, Harrell had an attack of conscience and confessed to being the driver. The confession, recorded by police, was replayed Friday during Sale’s closing statements to the jury.

Harrell did not testify in the trial.

Guilford’s mother, Brenda Armstead, said her daughter was a good parent and generous friend. Armstead called her daughter “Danny.”

“I try not be angry at the situation, because I know Danny wouldn’t be angry. ... I ask God for understanding and strength,” she said in an interview after the trial.

Armstead said she and other relatives of Guilford have leaned on their faith since the crash, and that she can forgive Harrell.

“The Bible says that we must forgive. But no matter what, I won’t forget and there will always be that pain there,” she said. “But will I be able to talk to him? Yeah. Will I be able to listen to him say he’s sorry? Yeah. I don’t think I would have any malice against him.”

After his conviction, a tearful Harrell turned to Guilford’s family and friends in the courtroom and offered such an apology

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just have to accept it.”

Guilford’s children, ages 6 and 2, have been adopted by Armstead.

“Danielle Guilford didn’t have to die,” Sale said after the trial. “The defendant had been put on probation for violating the law, and therefore was given a second chance. And he chose to commit this crime that ruined his life and took Danielle Guilford’s. And the right decision was reached today.”

PANAMA CITY — The Florida Forest Service is urging residents to use caution after a recent small wildfire in south Walton County.

Emergency personnel from the Forest Service and local firefighters responded to the fire in Freeport last week where a resident burning debris in his yard lost control of some of the flaming refuse. There were no injuries or significant damage in the incident, according to the Forest Service, and the fire was quickly extinguished.

Residents are allowed to burn debris including tree limbs, sticks and leaves, but must follow guidelines established by the Forest Service.

Burns must be located at least 25 feet from forests and a resident’s own home, and must be at least 150 feet from roads and other occupied buildings. Burns may take place after 8 a.m. and must be extinguished an hour before sunset. Waste must be burned in a pile no larger than 8 feet in diameter or in a non-combustible container. It is illegal to burn household garbage, plastics, rubber materials, pesticides and aerosol containers.

“It’s a right that they have, and we want to encourage them do it as long as they follow those rules,” said Brian Goddin, wildfire mitigation specialist with the Forest Service.

Goddin said residents also should check for burn bans before starting a fire, and that fires should be monitored closely with water or other fire-suppressing materials nearby.

Florida averages one wildfire a day, according to the Forest Service. About 75 percent of wildfires in the state are caused by people, typically through arson or escaped debris, such as the June 13 fire in Freeport.

The Forest Service responded to a natural wildfire in Bay County last weekend. Goddin said the small blaze was caused by heat and dry vegetation, and affected less than an acre of land. It was contained later that day.

Higher-than-average rainfall during the early months of the year reduced the potential for spring wildfires in the Florida Panhandle, according to the Forest Service’s seasonal fire outlook, which analyzes weather patterns and other conditions affecting wildfires. An updated seasonal fire outlook will be released by the Forest Service during the first week of July.

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — A man sleeping on railroad tracks was run over and killed by a train early Saturday morning.

DeFuniak Springs police said they responded to the call at 4:15 a.m. Officers arrived to find a deceased man with multiple injuries to his head, hands and legs, police said. The man had been hit by a CSX train between South 11th Street and Crescent Drive.

Although the investigation is continuing, it appears that 25-year-old Rolando Chavix Jocon of DeFuniak Springs had been sleeping in the middle of the tracks before being struck, police said in a news release.

The CSX train was traveling east and believed going the normal speed for populated areas. The locomotive engineer was unable to stop the train until just east of Crescent Drive. The last train car spanned past 23rd Street.

Railroad police and CSX personnel responded to assist in the investigation. The Medical Examiner’s Office took control of the remains so that an autopsy can be performed. A toxicology screen will be performed, but alcohol use was not apparent at the scene. The investigation is continuing, but no charges are anticipated, police said.

PANAMA CITY — The Bay County Jail inmate who died Tuesday night spent about six weeks in the unit of the jail tasked with preventing suicide, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Robert Charles Batty, 32, had been to court earlier this month and was convicted of violating probation. He was in a section of the jail that housed inmates awaiting transport to the Department of Corrections when he died Tuesday night.

He was last seen alive at 10:47 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. At 11:16 p.m., corrections officers doing a head count discovered the man had asphyxiated himself with a bed sheet tied off to a hand rail in his cell. Officers and jail medical staff performed CPR until EMS arrived at 11:37 p.m. and pronounced him dead, BCSO said.)

Batty was alone in his cell, and the suicide appeared to have been planned, Warden Rick Anglin said. Lock-down occurred Tuesday night around 10:40 p.m.

“I think he planned it, knowing what the routine was for what we call lockdown and count,” Anglin said.

Batty spent an unusually long time on the jail’s suicide watch, roughly six weeks, Anglin said, and he had been evaluated earlier in the day by a mental health counselor. He gave no indication of his intent to commit suicide during that evaluation, Anglin said.

Inmates who are placed on suicide watch are under “constant, direct observation” as they progress through the three-tiered system, Anglin said. Inmates on level one, the most restrictive level of suicide watch, have basically no privileges and are confined to a stripped-down cell with only a mattress and a shroud for clothes, which is tear-proof to prevent them from hanging or asphyxiating themselves.

They get their clothes back when they progress to level two, and they begin to receive limited privileges such as phone calls. Level three allows for greater privileges, such as access to the commissary and permission to receive visitors. Inmates who progress through level three are released into the general population.

The rate at which an inmate progresses through suicide watch back into the general population is determined by a committee of members of the jail’s medical, mental health and security staffs, Anglin said. After an inmate has been removed from suicide watch they receive regular follow-up evaluations such as the one the inmate underwent Tuesday.

Anglin said his staff does a great job preventing suicides. This was the first suicide at the jail since early in 2009, he said.

“We get [suicide] attempts on a pretty regular basis, and normally we can prevent them,” Anglin said. “Every now and then, when someone really wants to do it and plans it out, it’s hard to stop them.”

Batty had violated the conditions of his probation by failing to report a change of address to his probation officer. He had been sentenced to serve 13 months.

He had no address and was listed as a transient when was arrested in July 2012 on suspicion of rape. He pleaded no contest to battery and was sentenced to two years probation that required him to keep his address current with his probation officer.

Batty listed his address as 609 Allen Ave., the Rescue Mission, during an initial meeting with his probation officer in December, and apparently never checked in again.

An earlier version of this report is posted below:

PANAMA CITY — An inmate at the Bay County Jail died Tuesday night, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the death as a suicide.

The inmate Robert Charles Batty, Jr., 32, had been to court earlier this month and convicted of violating probation, officials wrote in a news release. He was in a section of the jail that housed inmates awaiting transport to the Department of Corrections.

He was last seen alive at 10:47 p.m. At 11:16 p.m., corrections officers doing a head count discovered the man had asphyxiated himself with a bed sheet. Officers and jail medical staff performed CPR until EMS arrived at 11:37 p.m. and pronounced him dead.

Batty violated the conditions of his probation by failing to report a change of address to his probation officer, officials wrote. He had been sentenced to serve 13 months. His original charge was sexual battery, for which he was arrested in July 2012.

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez killed his friend at an industrial park a mile from Hernandez's house several days after the two feuded during a trip to a nightclub, authorities said in announcing a murder charge against the Pro Bowler.

Hernandez was taken from his home in handcuffs Wednesday morning, more than a week after Boston semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd's body was found. Less than two hours after his arrest, the Patriots announced they had cut Hernandez from the team.

Lloyd was a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits. His relatives said he was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, that the two men were friends and that the men were out together on the last night of Lloyd's life. He was shot multiple times in the back and chest, authorities said.

In court, prosecutors described a killing borne out of a trip to a Boston nightclub on the night of June 14.

Hernandez and two friends picked up Lloyd at home at 2:30 a.m. on June 17, prosecutors said. Surveillance footage from Hernandez's home shows him leaving earlier with a gun. He also told someone in the house that he was upset and couldn't trust anyone anymore, prosecutors said.

After picking up Lloyd, Hernandez said he was upset with Lloyd because Lloyd had spoken with people Hernandez had trouble with during their outing to the nightclub, prosecutors said.

After that conversation, Lloyd texted his sister, “Did you see who I am with,” prosecutors said. When his asked who, he answered at 3:22 a.m., “NFL,” then, a minute later, “Just so you know,” prosecutors said.

Between 3:23 a.m. and 3:27 a.m., people working the overnight shift at the industrial park reported hearing gunshots, authorities said.

It's not clear who investigators believe fired the shots.

Hernandez's attorney, Michael Fee, asked for bail, saying Hernandez is not a flight risk, is a homeowner and lives with his fiancee and an 8-month-old baby. He also said Hernandez had never been accused of a violent crime.

“It is at bottom a circumstantial case. It is not a strong case,” Fee said.

The judge ordered Hernandez held without bail pending further proceedings.

Hernandez was wearing a white V-neck T-shirt, with his arms inside the shirt and behind his back as he was led from his North Attleborough before 9 a.m. Wednesday. He casually spit into some bushes on his way to a police cruiser.

Hernandez was taken from the North Attleborough police station to his court hearing Wednesday afternoon. About two dozen supporters cheered, some yelling “We love you Aaron,” as the car carrying him left the police station.

At about 10:20 a.m., the Patriots announced they had released Hernandez and expressed sympathy to Lloyd's family and friends.

“Words cannot express the disappointment we feel knowing that one of our players was arrested as a result of this investigation,” the Patriots said in a statement. “We realize that law enforcement investigations into this matter are ongoing. We support their efforts and respect the process. At this time, we believe this transaction is simply the right thing to do.”

Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward, declined to comment at her Boston home Wednesday morning.

“Nothing to say, please. Thank you,” she said, before shutting the door.

State police have searched in and around Hernandez's sprawling home in North Attleborough several times. At least three search warrants have been issued in connection with the investigation.

The Patriots drafted Hernandez, who is originally from Bristol, Conn., out of the University of Florida in 2010. Last summer, the team gave him a five-year contract worth $40 million.

MARIANNA - A Marianna man was armed with a Samurai sword, according to authorities, when he was arrested Tuesday after allegedly attacking his mother and his girlfriend.

Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a home in the 5000 block of Hundred Acre Drive, where they found the man’s mother and his girlfriend had been injured in a domestic incident that turned physical. The man’s mother told deputies that her son pushed her down, and his girlfriend told deputies that he choked her and threw her to the floor, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.

The man had fled the home, where he lives with his mother, before deputies arrived. Assisted by K-9 tracking teams, deputies soon located the man in woods near the home. He was armed with what appeared to be a samurai sword, JCSO reported, but did not resist arrest.

Joshua Randal Patrick, 39, was charged with two counts of battery under domestic violence guidelines. He is being held in Jackson County Jail. 

LYNN HAVEN -- An identity thief is posing as a Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigator, BCSO reported Wednesday.

The Sheriff’s Office received several complaints Wednesday regarding a man who called local victims and claimed to be a BCSO warrants investigator. The unidentified suspect told the victims a warrant had been issued for their arrest, but they could avoid being arrested by paying a fine. The suspect then asked for personal information and banking information, which BCSO is warning residents to never disclose under such circumstances.

Warrants deputies serve warrants in person, according to BCSO, and never call the subject of a warrant before it is served. They also would not ask for personal information over the phone.

MARIANNA -- A man injured in a road rage incident in Jackson County earlier this month has died, and two men have been arrested.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said the victim died in Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System early Wednesday morning. The man was identified as Terry Joe Gibbs, 56, of North Carolina.

According to a release from JCSO, arrested were two men: Kevin Denkevitz of Sanford, N.C. was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied vehicle; Craig Mathew Frederickson of Maple Hill, N.C. was charged with burglary of an occupied conveyance with battery and criminal mischief greater than $200.

Denkevitz and Frederickson were two of three motorcyclists involved in an altercation on June 17 at the Sunoco gas station on State 71 in Marianna. During the incident, shots were fired into a vehicle and one of the three motorcyclists was hit by the vehicle. The third motorcyclist is the man who died Wednesday.

Investigators determined that the altercation stemmed from a road rage incident that had previously occurred on Interstate 10 between a motorist and three motorcyclists, JCSO said. 

PANAMACITY— Investigators with the Panama City Police Department relentlessly gathered evidence in the slaying of 20-year-old Adam Bolton since 2007.

Sgt. Jeff Becker, the lead detective on the case, made Bolton’s photo his screen saver on his computer at work. He wanted to be reminded of the case every time he was there, he said.

On Thursday, the investigation officially came to an end when Joseph T. Duhon pleaded no contest to a charge of manslaughter.

Circuit Judge Elijah Smiley followed the terms of the agreement and sentenced Duhon, 27, to just over 10 years in prison, according to a news release from the State Attorney’s Office.

Assistant State Attorney Bob Sombathy told Smiley that Duhon shot and killed Bolton on Jan. 2, 2007.

Bolton’s mother, Angela Small, told Smiley that Duhon was the first friend Bolton made when they moved to the area, a news release stated.

“My son was executed one month before his 21st birthday by his friend Joseph Duhon,” Small said in the release, adding that she endured chance encounters with Duhon for years. “He would be smiling at me with that smug grin, knowing he killed my son.”

Duhon was arrested last year.

Police had said for years they knew who shot Bolton four times as he slept in his Grace Avenue apartment, but they lacked the evidence to bring formal charges until last year.

“The age of the case presented some challenges, but this manslaughter plea forces Joseph Duhon to accept responsibility for the death of Adam Bolton, and hopefully bring some closure for his family,” Sombathy wrote in a news release.

In an email to The News Herald, Becker said he also hoped the sentence would bring closure to the family.

“No penalty will ever return Mr. Adam Bolton to his family, but the Panama City Police Department hopes and prays that today’s sentence will offer them some sense of closure,” he wrote. “Solving crimes with the right person being charged for those crimes always has been and always will be among our top priorities. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of State Attorney Glenn Hess, attorney Bob Sombathy, and the staff at the State Attorney’s Office.”

PANAMA CITYBEACH -- A Panama City Beach woman was found safe in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Thursday night after apparently being kidnapped while washing her car earlier that day, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded to a home at 120 16th St. in Panama City Beach shortly after noon. A witness said the woman, 34-year-old Flor Esmeralda Turcio-Arias, was washing her car when two men drove up. The men forced her into their vehicle and drove away.

Investigators believe the two suspects in the incident are Hispanic. BCSO could not confirm whether any arrests were made in Mississippi or other details of the case.

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- A Panama City Beach woman was apparently kidnapped while washing her car Thursday afternoon, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded to a home at 120 16th St. in Panama City Beach shortly after noon. A witness said the woman, 34-year-old Flor Esmeralda Turcio-Arias, was washing her car when two men drove up. The men forced her into their vehicle and drove away.

Turcio-Arias is described as being 5-foot-5, 140 pounds with dark, wavy, shoulder-length hair and dark eyes. She was wearing a pink shirt and blue jean shorts when she was abducted, BCSO reported.

Investigators believe the two suspects in the incident are Hispanic. The passenger appeared to be about 50 years old, and the driver appeared to be about 30 years old. Their vehicle is described as a silver-colored four-door Nissan, possibly a Versa.

The Sheriff’s Office is asking for anyone with information on the incident to call BCSO or CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS.

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- A former staffer at a Panama City Beach hotel has been arrested after allegedly stealing cash from the rooms of several guests.

An investigation began June 3 after a guest at Origins at Sea Haven, located at 15100 Front Beach, reported about $100 had been stolen from her purse inside her room.

The staffer was eventually questioned, and he confessed to using a master key to enter the room and steal the money, Panama City Beach police reported. He used the same method to steal small sums of money from about 20 other rooms at the hotel, according to police.

Tristan Alexander McCathern, 22, of Lynn Haven, was charged with burglary and employee theft. 

An investigation into the burglaries is ongoing, and police expect further charges against McCathern. He is being held in Bay County Jail.

GREENWOOD -- A brother and sister have been arrested in a Greenwood home burglary last month.

Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies responded May 28 to a home in the 5700 block of Fort Road. The residence had been forcefully entered, and several things had been stolen, according to JCSO. Further details on the burglary were not released.

Investigators later developed the brother and sister as suspects. They were arrested Tuesday.

Billy Ray Nicholas and Roxie D. Nicholas were each charged with burglary of a dwelling. They are being held in Jackson County Jail.

MARIANNA — Two motorcyclists allegedly involved in a lengthy and deadly road rage incident were released on bond Thursday, a day after their companion died in a Panama City hospital.

Craig Fredrickson, 29, of Maple Hill, N.C., and 49-year-old Kevin Denkevitz, of Sanford, N.C., have both posted bond and been released from jail. Their traveling companion, 56-year-old Terry Joe Gibbs, was injured after he was knocked off his motorcycle June 17 and died Wednesday morning after nearly 10 days in the hospital.

Fredrickson and Denkevitz face felony charges for allegedly confronting another driver at the Sunoco gas station on State 71 near Interstate 10 after a road rage incident nearly an hour earlier then opening fire on the driver and his passengers.

According to a redacted incident report provided by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and court records:

Ronald Haney, 43, of Milton, and two passengers were travelling on the interstate and became embroiled in a dispute involving threats and hand gestures with the motorcyclists. The dispute “seemed to be quashed” 45 minutes later when Haney pulled the Ford pickup alongside a pump at the station.

Haney and his two female travelling companions, who are not identified in the records, got out of the truck, but urged them back in when he saw the motorcyclists pull up. The three bikers “strategically” parked along the passenger side and in front of the truck to block Haney in.

Fredrickson walked up to the driver’s side and hit the mirror, knocking it off the truck, then punched Haney in the mouth as Haney tried to back away. Haney hit Denkevitz’s motorcycle as he backed up, and Denkevitz responded by drawing a 9-mm. pistol and pointing it at Haney.

Haney drove forward into Gibbs’ motorcycle, which was parked sideways directly in the path of the truck, as Denkevitz began to fire into the cab of the truck. Gibbs was ejected from the motorcycle, which became lodged under the truck.

Denkevitz kept firing as he approached the truck, which pushed the motorcycle to the southernmost side of the parking lot, far enough for Haney back off of it and flee to another gas station nearby, where he called 911. The truck was hit with several shots, but Haney and his passengers were not injured except for a cut on Haney’s lip from being punched in the face.

A deputy who responded found a man with a severe head injury being tended to by a woman and two men. The same deputy found a loaded pistol with the slide cocked back in a compartment of a motorcycle. Much of the deputy’s report was redacted for reasons that were not explained, and JCSO officials did not comment.

Fredrickson is charged with burglary of an occupied conveyance with battery and criminal mischief. He was released on a bond totaling $16,000 and has filed a written plea of not guilty.

Denkevitz is charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied vehicle. He posted a bond totaling $15,000 and was released.

No charges against Haney have been filed.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A Panama City Beach woman escaped and then led police to at least one of her captors Thursday after she was kidnapped and taken to Mississippi.

Flor Esmeralda Turcio-Arias, 34, walked into the Hattiesburg, Miss., Police Department about a block from the home she had escaped, according to a police report. She was upset and told them, through a translator, she had been abducted, and then led them back to the home, where police took a Hispanic man and woman into custody.

Hattiesburg police contacted authorities in rural Jasper County, Miss., about 50 miles north of Hattiesburg, where they found a vehicle matching the description of the car the kidnappers drove and took the occupants into custody.

No one taken into custody has been identified. They were turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, along with information on the case.

Turcio-Arias was taken by two men from outside of her Laguna Beach home just after noon Thursday while she was outside washing her car. Her abductors were believed to be two Hispanic men about 50 and 30 years old. Bay County authorities had reason to believe the men were armed, though they are not certain.

Bay County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Tommy Ford said very few details about the kidnapping would be released due to an ongoing FBI investigation. He believed Turcio-Arias did not know her abductors, but he did not believe there was any danger to the community.

“It appears to be an isolated incident,” Ford said. “We don’t believe it to be random.”

Turcio-Arias escaped through a bathroom window of the home, Ford said.

Two unidentified men have been arrested in connection to the abduction, and investigators are interviewing others who might be suspects, according to the BCSO. One of the men arrested was involved in the actual abduction; the other’s role is unclear.

One kidnapper had not been arrested and was at large, Ford said. The suspects will be prosecuted in federal court, Ford said.

It was not clear Friday evening with what the suspects have been charged.

WEWAHITCHKA — An Overstreet man was arrested and charged with aggravated battery and leaving the scene of accident involving property damage Thursday after he chased and crashed a vehicle he mistakenly believed was driven by his ex-wife, Gulf County Sheriff’s Office investigators said.

Kenneth Norris Rogers, 43, was initially taken into custody Tuesday afternoon.

A 911 caller reported a van had collided with her vehicle on State 71 and Fleming Curve and had fled the scene.

Shortly thereafter, Sgt. John Murnan located the suspect vehicle and identified Rogers, who said he thought the other vehicle was his “ex-wife’s van.” Rogers told Murnan he had stopped to check on the driver.

Rogers was taken back to the scene of the crash following a chase, where he was arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol on charges of leaving the scene of a crash involving damage to vehicle or property, a second-degree misdemeanor. He was transported to the Gulf County Jail.

During a follow-up investigation, investigators asid they discovered Rogers had tailgated the victim from the Gulf and Calhoun County line into Wewahitchka.

When the victim arrived in Wewahitchka, she stopped briefly to conduct work-related business off State 71. Once back on State 71 she noticed Rogers was again behind her, investigators said.

Rogers continued to tailgate her vehicle south on State 71, at speeds estimated at roughly 60 mph, before reaching Fleming Curve, when authorities said Rogers drove his van into the rear end of her van.

Rogers pulled along the driver’s side and collided again with the victim’s vehicle, forcing her from the road.

Once he opened the victim’s door and discovered it was not his ex-wife, he fled.

Investigators determined Rogers’ actions were intentional, believing it was his ex-wife. Rogers was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony.

He was released on $5,000 bond.

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- A Decatur, Ala. man was critically injured Thursday night in a single-vehicle crash.

Shortly before 8 p.m., 19-year-old Nathaniel Dalton Tounzen was driving a scooter westbound on Front Beach Road when he crashed near U.S. 79, according to Panama City Beach police. He was ejected from the scooter. It was unclear what caused the crash.

Late Friday, he was still in critical condition at Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System. No charges will be filed in the incident, police said.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office has posted double red flags on the beaches of Bay County, meaning the water is closed.

Double red flags mean there are high hazard swimming conditions in Gulf waters with high surf and/or strong currents.

Anyone in the water in double red flag conditions can be ticketed or arrested, BCSO said.

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- A Panama City Beach man was critically injured Friday night when he was struck by an SUV while riding his bicycle.

Igor Aloyts, age 46, was traveling eastbound on the paved shoulder of Thomas Drive near Outlook Street. He was struck by a Ford Expedition and ejected from the bike about 11:30 p.m., according to police.

The 27-year-old driver of the SUV kept going. She was stopped about 2.5 miles from the scene and arrested. Kristina Rose Horton was charged with DUI and leaving the scene of an accident.

PANAMA CITY - A pedestrian was killed Saturday night as he or she was attempting to cross State 390 near Fairland Avenue, officials wrote in a news release. 

PANAMA CITY BEACH - Hattiesburg Police Monday released the names of two people arrested last week in connection to the abduction of a Panama City Beach woman.

Ruperto Flores, 57, and Castillo Uriel, 31, have been booked into the Forest County, Miss., Jail on charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, according to a police spokesman. Investigators there continue to work with investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the suspects could also face charges in federal court.

Flores and Uriel are suspected of taking Flor Esmeralda Turcio-Arias from her home Thursday around noon while she washed her car. She walked into the Hattiesburg Police Station after escaping through a bathroom window at a nearby house where she was being held.