A judge on Thursday ordered a 65-year-old Palm Beach woman, accused of critically injuring a bike rider on Wednesday, to be held in lieu of $100,000 bond and to surrender her passport.

Ikuyo Ohigashi appeared in front of Circuit Court Judge Ted Booras after she was arrested on Wednesday on charges of DUI property damage and DUI serious bodily injury to another.

Assistant State Attorney Laura Laurie told Booras that Ohigashi is a flight risk after she stated she was planning on traveling to Japan in the near future for a vacation. Laurie also said that Ohigashi was involved in three crashes, and therefore is “a danger to the community, by all means.”

Ohigashi’s attorney, Nellie King, argued that the vacation was planned in November and was not in response to any criminal action.

Booras also ordered that if Ohigashi posts bond, that she be released on supervision with random drug testing, as she admitted at the scene of the accident in suburban Lake Worth that she took narcotics earlier in the day.

Ohigashi, was traveling west on Lake Worth Road, around 12:18 p.m. on Wednesday, when she struck Pertti Viljo Savela, 65, who was riding his bicycle in the bicycle lane near Corrigan Court, a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office probable cause affidavit says.

Savela, a Finnish national with a suburban Lake Worth address, was thrown from his bike and hit his head on Ohigashi’s windshield, shattering the glass. He suffered a brain injury, multiple rib fractures, a bruised lung, and a large laceration on his head. He was flown by Trauma Hawk to Delray Medical Center.

At the scene of the wreck, Sheriff’s Office deputies said Ohigashi appeared sluggish and forgetful, the affidavit says.

Ohigashi told deputies she saw Savela in the bicycle lane and thought he “wobbled over” into her vehicle lane. She told another deputy that she took a 750 mg Vicodin pill hours before.

By Alexandra Seltzer, The Palm Beach Post

If you have been hurt in a car accident, do not accept any settlement that is offered by an insurance company without first reviewing it with a skilled and experienced attorney who can advise you more thoroughly about your legal rights and options. Contact the Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers of Salpeter Gitkin, LLP today at 954-467-8622 for more information.

Police arrested a West Palm Beach woman on Monday after she not only drove into another car, but kept driving drunk, they said.

Sandra Hayes, 41, is facing DUI charges, as well as refusing to submit to a DUI test and leaving the scene of a crash involving damage to property.

Hayes was arrested after a woman called police at 10:14 p.m. on Monday to report that her car had been hit by a driver near the 700 block of 42nd Street, according to the West Palm Beach Police probable cause affidavit.

The woman, identified as Kathie Williams, told dispatchers at the time that she was in pursuit of the car that crashed into hers.

Despite catching up with Hayes with emergency lights and siren, a police officer noted in the affidavit that she did not pull over until reaching a parking spot in the 5000 block of Caribbean Boulevard. The officer also noted that when Hayes stepped out of her car, she stumbled and was caught by another officer who sat her back in her car “for her safety.”

When asked how much she had to drink, Hayes said that she pleaded “the Fifth,” the affidavit stated. She also said, “I refuse the right” to undergo a field sobriety test.

Both officers noted in the affidavit that they could smell the “strong and distinct odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage emitting from her breath.”

By Cynthia Roldan, The Palm Beach Post

If you have been hurt in a car accident, do not accept any settlement that is offered by an insurance company without first reviewing it with a skilled and experienced attorney who can advise you more thoroughly about your legal rights and options. Contact the Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers of Salpeter Gitkin, LLP today at 954-467-8622 for more information.

Five people were taken to a hospital on Wednesday morning after a two-vehicle collision on University Drive in Tamarac, a city official said.

The patients’ injuries were considered non-life-threatening, according to city spokesman Chad Quinn. They were taken to University Hospital and Medical Center, a few feet away from the crash site.

The crash was reported before 9 a.m. in the 7400 block of North University Drive, near West McNab Road.

By Juan Ortega, Sun Sentinel

If you have been hurt in a car accident, do not accept any settlement that is offered by an insurance company without first reviewing it with a skilled and experienced attorney who can advise you more thoroughly about your legal rights and options. Contact the Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers of Salpeter Gitkin, LLP today at 954-467-8622 for more information.

A two-car crash sent one vehicle through the front wall of a beauty supply store early Monday.

Fort Lauderdale Police spokesman Detective Travis Mandell said the crash happened at approximately 12:24 a.m.

The drivers of a red Ford Focus and a black Honda sedan had minor injuries, he said, after the Honda crashed through a wall of Diamond Girl Beauty Supply at 3224 W. Broward Blvd.

By Linda Trischitta, Sun Sentinel

If you have been hurt in a car accident, do not accept any settlement that is offered by an insurance company without first reviewing it with a skilled and experienced attorney who can advise you more thoroughly about your legal rights and options. Contact the Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyers of Salpeter Gitkin, LLP today at 954-467-8622 for more information.

In a recent article by Linda Trischitta for the Sun Sentinel, “Dont let scammers abuse your charitable inclinations”, she points out the best tips to prevent fraud according to the Better Business Bureau.

2. Verify whether a charity is authentic. Ignore hard sell tactics or appeals to your heart strings and check a group out on the BBB’s site. You can also review a charity on GuideStar.org and CharityNavigator.org, the bureau says.

2. Look at a group’s spending-to-service ratio.  The BBB’s website describes how to review a charity’s accountability. It says charities should spend 65 percent or more of total expenses toward program activities. A charity that solicits should provide its IRS Form 990 for review.

3. Protect your donation. Avoid giving cash, and make checks payable to charities, not individual solicitors, the BBB says. Get a receipt or confirmation code for any gifts.

Boynton Beach Police are looking for a man who scammed another man into wiring him $1,550 in a fake eBay sale.

The victim said he responded to an ad on backpage.com for a 2006 Yamaha Raptor 4-wheeler on August 15, police said.

The seller said his name was Michael Q. Kewell and that he was a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and stationed in McGuire, N.J. Kewell gave the victim an email address and said the sale would happen through eBay Motors.

A few days later, the victim got an email that appeared to be from eBay Motors, which gave instructions to wire the money through Western Union to an eBay agent with a Miami address.

The victim wired the money, which was picked up at the Publix store at 133 N. Congress Avenue in Boynton Beach. He never heard from the seller after that, and never got the 4-wheeler, police said.

Surveillance video from Publix shows a man wearing a white Polo style shirt with dark horizontal strips, khaki or gray shorts, flip flops, a gray hat and a black messenger bag.