Driver chases car thinking it’s his ex, then kills a stranger in crash, Florida cops say

A 28-year-old mom was killed in a case of mistaken identity by a stranger who thought he was hunting down his ex-girlfriend, Florida authorities said.

Kyle Hill was intoxicated when he ran a couple’s car off the road, causing a fatal crash all while thinking his ex-girlfriend was inside, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department.

Hill, 33, got in an argument with his ex-girlfriend on March 9, and she took off in a friend’s car, police said in a news release.

Hill got in his SUV to find her, then he came upon a car that was the same make and model as the one he was looking for, St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said in a March 12 news conference broadcast by WFLA.

He started chasing the car and called his ex to tell the woman that he had found her and was going to kill her, her friend and himself, the chief said.

But inside the car was an “innocent couple” trying to flee an unknown man who was chasing their vehicle for 12 blocks, until he rammed into their sedan at more than 60 mph, police said in an affidavit.

The car under chase, driven by Arislenni Blanco-Medina’s boyfriend, ran off the road into a concrete pole, which collapsed on the car and killed Blanco-Medina, police said.

Hill lost control of his own SUV and hit a tree, according to police. Investigators said his blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit.

Blanco-Medina’s family said at the news conference, through tears, that she had a daughter in Cuba and had only been living in the United States for a few months. She was talking to her daughter on the phone when Hill started chasing them, and the last thing she said before the crash was that the person in the pursuing car was going to kill her, Blanco-Medina’s family said.

Her boyfriend was hospitalized in critical condition, according to the family.

Hill is now charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, police announced.

St. Petersburg is part of the Tampa Bay area.