Who is Felicia Taylor? CNN ex-host rear-ends car injuring driver, 24, before speeding off
Felicia Taylor, 57, retired anchor-correspondent who worked for CNN International’s 'World Business Today' was arrested on July 28, after she allegedly hit another car while driving her white Mercedes, causing injury to the other driver, then leaving the scene, Palm Beach Police said. According to the incident report, Taylor, 57, struck the rear bumper of a black Ford, driven by a 24-year-old man, which was stopped in traffic ahead of her Mercedes. “His vehicle was struck from behind by the white Mercedes. The impact caused (him) to strike the steering wheel, causing multiple complaints of injuries,” the report states. However, following the impact, Taylor’s Mercedes was seen “fleeing the scene of the accident without rendering aid or stopping to provide information,” the report added.
Taylor, who is well known in the New York City, Hamptons, and Palm Beach social scenes, was then seen twice driving past the scene of the crash in her car, which had "sustained heavy front end damage" without stopping, the report said. She was then pulled over by a police officer who stated, “Taylor acknowledged being involved in a traffic crash and the other driver was ‘OK' before adding, “Taylor continued to state that she wanted to go back to her house and the accident was ‘not a big deal.'"
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After being struck by Taylor's car, Palm Beach police said that the 24-year-old Ford driver complained of jaw, head, neck, and back pain and was treated at the scene by EMTs, while Taylor was evaluated twice by EMTs and was found to be unhurt. Prior to the crash, Taylor informed the police officer that she was traveling from 'The Colony Hotel' and "when confronted that the Colony Hotel was closed," Taylor didn’t have a response. Taylor further said, she was at a restaurant on Worth Avenue and then stated she was at a restaurant in the Royal Poinciana Plaza. We were unable to locate a restaurant that recalls "Taylor as a guest." She denied being on prescription drugs or having imbibed any alcohol, and the police officer added that he did not smell alcohol on her. Taylor also “wanted the injuries of the other driver to be substantiated” and stated “the damage to her vehicle is her problem, it's 'hard to be a good person' and she didn’t stop at the accident scene because she didn’t know there was anything to be concerned with,” the report also stated. However, she denied the charges.
Taylor was arrested and taken to Palm Beach County Jail, where she was charged with careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury. She was released on $3,000 bail and has entered a 'not guilty plea'. Her Mercedes was hauled away by police, who found a bottle of white wine that was three-quarters full, plus a silver thermos also three-quarters full “of an unknown alcoholic beverage.” Both the wine bottle and thermos were wedged behind the passenger seat "and out of the reach of the driver.”
Taylor, who was also the co-host of Retirement Living TV’s 'Daily Cafe' until 2009 and worked for WNBC-TV from 1998 to 2006, was previously arrested on September 4, 2015, for drunk driving with a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit after side-swiping another car in the Hamptons, police said. Taylor was trying to turn onto Main Street in Sag Harbor when the crash occurred. She was so drunk after the late-afternoon accident that she was taken to Southampton Hospital "for medical evaluation," and was charged with aggravated DWI.