HILTON HEAD ISLAND — Family members of a man killed in a hit-and-run incident on Hilton Head Island have filed a civil lawsuit alleging the woman charged in his death was “grossly intoxicated” at the time of the collision.
Jason Flack, 45, was struck and killed by a vehicle while crossing Gum Tree Road near Squire Pope Road on the evening of Feb. 25. The driver of the vehicle fled the scene.
Sylvia Nelander, a 61-year-old resident of Hilton Head, was arrested and charged with failing to stop for a fatal hit-and-run, a felony. She was booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center early Feb. 29 and released on a $200,000 bond March 1.
The civil lawsuit was filed March 29 by Flack’s father, Robert Flack, and daughter, Amara Kendall, as representatives of his estate. It alleges that Jason Flack was walking in a crosswalk at the intersection of Gumtree Road and Squire Pope Road on Hilton Head Island when he was struck by Nelander, who was driving north on Squire Pope Road.
Nelander didn’t stop to render aid or contact authorities, according to the lawsuit. The suit also alleges a list of reckless or negligent actions, including the claim that Nelander was grossly intoxicated at the time of the collision, that she was driving too fast for conditions and that she failed to yield the right of way.
Neither Nelander nor her defense attorney could not be reached by phone April 18.
Roberts “Tabor” Vaux, a Bluffton-based attorney representing the Flack family, said April 17 that he would have little information to share on the case until both sides conduct discovery, which will allow Vaux to “put a timeline on (Nelander’s) whereabouts that evening.”
A preliminary hearing in the criminal case against Nelander was held April 12. If convicted, she could be sentenced up to 25 years in prison.
Memorial services for Flack were held March 5 at Lowcountry Memorial Gardens in Bluffton. According to his obituary, the 45-year-old was an electrical contractor and the owner of Innovative Electrical Concepts. He’s survived by his parents; sister; daughter; grandchildren, Maisleigh and Maylynn Kendall; fiancée, Wendy Bader; and her daughter, Brielle Bader.
Kendall, Flack’s daughter, told the crowd gathered at Flack’s memorial service that she had sat down several times to write remarks but “couldn’t find the words.”
“I started jotting down all these little things that reminded me of him,” Kendall said. “I could hear him talk ‘Pittsburgh-ese’ and all these little things. We’d be driving around and he’d say, ‘You know I wired that.’”
She ended with a request that the crowd repeat one of his favorite lines: “I’m glad you got to see me today.”
