FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — A 20-year-old woman faces assault charges after deputies say she deliberately drove into a crowd during a disturbance at a RaceTrac gas station, striking one person.
Deputies responded to the RaceTrac on South Pointe Boulevard around 2 a.m. Monday, after receiving reports of a disturbance. Investigators learned a group of females got into a verbal altercation where one person grabbed a canister of mace and began spraying the crowd before getting into a friend’s vehicle to drive away.
“You can see on the surveillance video that this female had zero care for her actions,” Sheriff Marceno said. “I will not tolerate this type of behavior in Lee County, putting others’ lives at risk for no reason at all.”
While leaving, the driver, later identified as Navayahia Diaz, abruptly accelerated toward another vehicle. Diaz then reversed and accelerated once again toward a second vehicle, hitting a victim who was standing in front of the parked car before fleeing the scene.
“Things heated up, literally heated up between all parties involved,” said Sheriff Carmine Marceno. “This could have been a fatal encounter, and this is havoc, and this is no regard for law.”
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said the involved parties were also at a shooting incident at the Viva Le Mirage earlier in the evening, but were not directly involved in that incident.
Deputies made contact with Diaz and arrested her. She was booked into the Lee County Jail and charged with aggravated battery.
“Our suspect, no stranger to jail. She had been charged for grand theft in 2025,” said Sheriff Marceno. “Here she is, back at it again and in trouble again. So very, very disturbing behavior.”
Marceno praised his Violent Crimes Unit detectives for their work on the case.