A Florida man is charged with second-degree murder after allegedly hurling his girlfriend into oncoming traffic on Interstate 95.
Cops say he “forcefully dragged” the woman onto the busy roadway — while she desperately tried crawling back to the shoulder — months after he was caught on video attacking her in a similar fashion.
Lorent Pion, 29, is accused of killing Nahomi Cittadini, 22, on December 7 by “forcefully beating her and dragging her” onto I-95 during a fight near the southbound entrance ramp to Ives Dairy Road in northeast Miami-Dade, according to local ABC affiliate WPLG. He was arrested this week and booked into Broward County’s Main Jail.
Pion’s arrest warrant, obtained by WPLG, describes how he allegedly snatched Cittadini from his SUV on the night of her murder while they were arguing and began attacking her on the side of the road.
Police say cameras set up by the Florida Department of Transportation’s Traffic Management Center captured the assault and Cittadini’s death on video, forcing workers to watch in real time as Pion pummeled the young woman and dragged her into traffic.
“(Cittadini) was on the ground fending off the attacker who was standing over (her) throwing punches,” the arrest warrant states, according to WPLG.
Pion “forcefully dragged” Cittadini “away from where the black SUV was parked and towards the I-95 lanes of traffic,” where vehicles were seen swerving to avoid her.
Cittadini “crawled back to the emergency shoulder,” police say, but Pion “dragged her back to the far-right travel lane in the path of oncoming traffic.” According to the DOT footage, Pion “jumped back” before a sedan collided with Cittadini, whose family claims she was abused by him.
“She didn’t want to be with him anymore,” Cittadini’s mother, Maria Benitez, told CBS News Miami in December. “He’d just show up everywhere. She even traveled to New York, and he followed her there. He tracked her down wherever she went.
Pion is accused of attempting “to load” Cittadini’s body into his SUV after she was struck and killed on Interstate 95. He was caught on video dragging her “across the grassy median between I-95 and the Ives Dairy Road on ramp, towards his black SUV,” according to Pion’s arrest warrant.
According to police, a witness came forward during the investigation and stated that Pion arrived at Cittadini’s home “with blood all over his body” on the night of his death.
DOT employees alerted police while watching the alleged murder, and officers were dispatched to the scene.
Pion was apprehended after a brief car chase and charged with fleeing, but not Cittadini’s murder. He claimed Cittadini was hit by a car and he was only trying to help her.
Authorities also discovered that Pion was arrested on August 8 for a similar road attack captured on video, with the footage shared and posted online by WPLG.
Pion is accused of punching Cittadini, grabbing her hair, and dragging her around the street. He was charged with battery and ordered to stay away from her, according to WPLG.
“I’m innocent. “I did not kill my girl,” Pion stated in a December letter to the judge overseeing his case. “There was a car accident. “And the car that hit her fled.”
Pion was arrested in the Broward County Main Jail on Wednesday and was being held without bond.
