Jonathan Pol Clay County coach charged with DUI Jacksonville Fla Atlanta Ga. 2015
Cheerleading coach charged in fatal hit-and-run
From New4JAX
FLEMMING ISLAND, Fla. – With children nowadays being so involved in extracurricular activities and sports, parents have the difficult task of navigating the tricky waters between being overbearing and trusting the counselors and coaches who are responsible for those children’s safety.
One of those caretakers, Jonathan Pol, is a Clay County cheerleading coach currently involved in a deadly hit and run investigation and is facing several felony charges.
Police said Pol struck a 53-year-old man in Atlanta in November 2013. Investigators believe he drove away and left the victim for dead.
He’s now awaiting trial charged with first degree homicide by vehicle, hit and run, DUI and failing to aid an injured person.
But Pol, 28, is currently out of jail and still running his business, Island Cheerleading and Tumbling in Fleming Island.
It’s the home of the Island All Stars, an award-winning competitive children’s cheerleading team and Jonathan Pol is the program director.
Though Pol has been tightlipped about the investigation, the police report speaks volumes about what may have happened.
In an alarming report from Atlanta Police on a Nov. 23, 2013 fatal hit-and-run, officers said they discovered 53-year-old Darryl Williams dead in the grass next to a sidewalk in downtown Atlanta. The man was reported to be homeless.
Detectives also found a driver’s side mirror at the scene. They traced the mirror to a BMW which was rented from Jacksonville by Island Cheers’ Jonathan Pol. The crash happened on his 27th birthday.
An investigator questioned Pol over the phone, and according to his report, “Pol admitted that he was driving his rental vehicle and lost control. He reported that he struck some siding.”
But Pol gave a different story to a Jacksonville sheriff’s officer, an acquaintance of Pol’s, whom he called the morning of the crash.
That officer said Pol told him he was drinking and that “He had struck a person and another vehicle. He claimed that he was scared and fled the scene from both collisions.”
Police put a warrant out for the Pol’s arrest and he turned himself in days later. The case is ongoing.
Pol isn’t the only Island Cheer employee that has ended up on the wrong side of the law though.
Coach Russell Roberts was recently fired after being arrested in April in Central Florida for leaving the scene of an accident with injuries. According to online court records Roberts is scheduled to go on trial on other charges this month. ….MORE
