Trial begins for man accused of East Naples deadly hit-and-run

A man accused in a fatal hit-and-run crash took the stand. He maintains he did not know he hit and killed a teen on his bike when he left the scene of a crash two years ago. But prosecutors say something else.

Pedro Silva-Diaz, 34, is accused of killing 13-year-old Shayden Colvin in an East Naples crash and leaving the scene in 2017.

Diaz went on trial Thursday and told the same story he shared with deputies 18 months ago. He said he did not know he hit and killed Colvin.

Diaz’s lawyer asked him if he would have left the scene if he knew he had been involved in a car crash.

“No,” Diaz answered in court in front of Colvin’s mother and others who sat before him. Diaz said, at the time, he thought he had a nail in his tire.

But during her cross examination, Attorney Mara Marzano with the prosecution argued Diaz had to know he hit Colvin.

“Five miles an hour, headlights in front of you, somehow you managed to not see a child on bicycle?” Marzano questioned Diaz.

The prosecution argued Diaz drank beer before the crash and didn’t have a valid driver’s license.

“What really was going on is you were looking in the rear view who you knew you had hit,” Marzano said. “And were trying to decide what you’re going to do

Diaz denied the prosecution’s arguments and said he would have stopped had he known.

“I didn’t see him,” Diaz said. “Had I seen him, I would’ve stopped.”

Colvin’s mother, Nikki, told us she will wait until the trial is over before she responds to what Diaz said in court.

The jury will likely get the case Friday.