Bradenton man tried to cover up fatal Palmetto crash, prosecutors say
A Bradenton man faces decades in prison after a jury convicted him of killing a motorcyclist and trying to cover it up.
Manatee County jurors convicted 25-year-old Juan Victor Santizhernandez on Wednesday of driving without a valid license causing death, leaving the scene of a crash involving death and tampering with evidence, according to court records.
An attorney representing Santizhernandez did not immediately respond to the Bradenton Herald’s request for comment.
The charges stem from a September 2023 wreck that killed 42-year-old Hoang Vuong at the intersection of U.S. 41 North and Seventh Street West in Palmetto.
According to the Palmetto Police Department, Santizhernandez was driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck without a license when he turned left across Vuong’s path.
Vuong, traveling south on his Suzuki bike, tried to avoid the collision by laying the bike down, but struck the truck’s passenger side. He was thrown from the motorcycle and struck by at least two other drivers who stopped to help, according to an arrest report.
But Santizhernandez, police say, continued driving with Vuong’s motorcycle lodged under his truck and took several steps to hide his involvement in the crash.
Guilty verdict in fatal Palmetto crash
Surveillance footage showed sparks trailing beneath the vehicle as it dragged the bike more than 400 yards down Seventh Street West, according to an arrest report. He eventually turned into a grass lot on Third Avenue West, backed up to dislodge the wreckage and fled using back roads that led him across the Green Bridge into Bradenton, investigators said.
Vuong died at the scene. He had been married to his wife, Santhana Sengphachanh, for 20 years and was remembered as a loving husband and father with a passion for motorcycles and the open road, according to an obituary.
“His adventurous spirit and love for life were truly inspiring,” it reads. “His kindness, creativity, intelligence and friendly nature made him an exceptional individual.”
After the crash, Vuong’s family offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
“My family and my children need justice,” Sengphachanh wrote in a Facebook post at the time.
The crash set off a month-long investigation. A license plate reader on the Green Bridge helped identify the truck, and detectives used surveillance footage from businesses across Palmetto to track its path.
Investigators said they later confirmed Santizhernandez was the registered owner and learned he had never been issued a valid driver’s license.
Prosecutors allege driver’s attempted cover-up
Yellow paint, fresh aluminum and what police described as biological evidence were found underneath, according to an arrest report. A broken running board found at the crash scene matched damage on the vehicle, and investigators noted signs that several parts had been recently removed or tampered with. A dash camera mount and its packaging were found inside, but the camera and SD card were missing, according to police.
According to an arrest report, Santizhernandez initially denied involvement, telling detectives he loaned the truck to a friend named Juan Velasco for a “family emergency” that night. He also said he was at his brother’s house in Bradenton when the crash happened.
But the phone number he provided for the friend was disconnected, and detectives said a Facebook profile under that name included a photo of Santizhernandez himself.
Further calling his story into question, investigators said they recovered a deleted cellphone video taken 48 minutes before the crash. The footage showed Santizhernandez alone behind the wheel of the truck, with no passengers visible, driving near the Skyway Bridge, according to an arrest report.
Detectives said that video shows a dash camera clearly mounted on the windshield in the same position as the one later reported missing. The truck’s mileage reading was also within 25 miles of the truck’s mileage at the time of Santizhernandez’s police interview, the report says.
Police arrested Santizhernandez in October 2023, the Bradenton Herald previously reported.
In a written statement following his conviction, prosecutors denounced Santizhernandez’s actions as avoidable and irresponsible.
“The death of the victim, Hoang Vuong, was tragic and entirely preventable had the defendant chosen to obey the law,” Assistant State Attorney Christina Walsh said in a statement. “Instead, Juan Victor Santizhernandez chose to drive without a license and then flee from the scene … He even went so far as to destroy evidence in an attempt to conceal his culpability.”
Under Florida law, Santizhernandez faces four to 40 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 20, according to court records.
Court records show the verdict followed a three-day trial in Manatee County Circuit Court before Judge Frederick Mercurio.
