Florida Highway Patrol troopers arrested an Ocala man Wednesday in connection with a possibly drug-related crash last April that claimed the life of a Leesburg man.
Robert Jason Headley, 38, was taken into custody and charged with DUI manslaughter (drugs) and vehicular homicide in the April 4, 2018 crash that killed 68-year-old Richard Dale Neely. Headley was booked into the Sumter County Detention Center late Wednesday morning and is being held on $61,000 bond.
Neely had been at the wheel of a 2014 Ford Fiesta shortly after midnight more than a year ago traveling east on East County Road 470 when his vehicle was struck head-on by a 2015 Nissan Altima driven by Headley, according to an FHP report.
Headley’s vehicle had been traveling westbound in the eastbound lane, the report indicated, adding that Neely’s vehicle struck a fence after the fatal crash.
Neely was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Headley suffered serious injuries and was transported to Ocala Regional Medical Center.