Man on trial for deadly Tallahassee hit-and-run

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – WCTV has learned that a former Florida corrections officer who is currently on trial for a deadly hit-and-run was arrested multiple times while awaiting his court date.

Ongoing hit-and-run trial details

Ryan Denzel Smith-Mosley, now 26, is charged in Leon County with leaving the scene of a crash involving death and tampering with physical evidence.

He’s accused of being behind the wheel on January 6, 2020, when his car hit 26-year-old Jeremiah Bruce who was reportedly walking along North Monroe Street.

Instead of stopping, investigators claim he drove away from the scene and turned down a nearby residential road, where a doorbell camera caught him pulling over to inspect the damage to his vehicle. The doorbell footage shows the driver exiting the vehicle, walking around to the front and yelling an expletive upon seeing the crumpled bumper. The driver then got back inside the vehicle and reversed out of the frame.

Mosley’s defense attorney claims he was not driving the vehicle.

Jeremiah Bruce, 26, was hit in the crash and died in the hospital on January 14, roughly a week later. His daughter, now 7 years old, has reportedly been cared for by his father ever since.

Smith-Mosley, then 22, was working as a corrections officer at the Franklin Correctional Institute at the time of the crash. He was arrested in early April 2020, several months after the crash, when investigators from the Florida Highway Patrol were allegedly able to link his vehicle to the accident. His mug shot has been exempt from public disclosure for roughly three years due to his job.

Court records show other charges after Smith-Mosley’s 2020 arrest

According to a criminal report affidavit out of Hillsborough County obtained by WCTV, Smith-Mosley moved out of Tallahassee to Tampa while awaiting trial. Records indicate police charged him with numerous other felony crimes after his April 2020 arrest, including felony assault and attempted robbery without a firearm.

On July 16, 2022, he was arrested and charged with felony assault for punching a man who accidentally knocked into a woman on a busy sidewalk in Tampa’s Ybor City Historic District. The man reportedly fell to the ground, hit his head and was knocked unconscious for several minutes before being taken to the hospital for treatment.

Court filings show Smith-Mosley plans to argue the action was made in self-defense under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law. In a transcript of a conversation he allegedly had with a deputy at the scene, Smith-Mosley referenced that he used to be a corrections officer. He is expected back in criminal court for the alleged assault on August 30.

A few months later Smith-Mosley was arrested again. Court records out of Sarasota County allege he was involved in an attempted bank robbery in North Port on September 12, 2022. A warrant was issued for his arrest on October 13, 2022. He was charged with attempted robbery without a firearm, which is a second-degree felony under Florida law.

According to the probable cause affidavit, it was a hot and humid day when Smith-Mosley and an accomplice allegedly entered a Charlotte State Bank and Trust in the City of North Port wearing hooded sweatshirts, Covid-19 style face masks and latex gloves. One of the men allegedly tried to slip the teller a note that demanded “100s and 50s with no trackers.”

However, no money was handed over during the attempt, and the men left without incident, according to the document. However, police were called and later tracked down a vehicle with a Tallahassee Mitsubishi license plate frame. That vehicle belonged to another Franklin Correctional Institute employee named Darian Lamar Billups, 29, of Crawfordville. Billups identified Smith-Mosley as one of the men caught on surveillance camera inside the bank, according to the court documents. WCTV is working to obtain a mug shot of Billups.

Court records show the State Attorney for the 12th Judicial Circuit Ed Brodsky ultimately declined to pursue the charges related to the alleged attempted bank robbery.

Smith-Mosley is expected back in court on Friday morning.

To stay up to date on all the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook and Twitter.

Have a news tip or see an error that needs correction? Write us here. Please include the article’s headline in your message.

Keep up with all the biggest headlines on the WCTV News app. Click here to download it now.

Copyright 2023 WCTV. All rights reserved.