Our partner David Bianchi was a guest last night on the television network HLN on The Ashleigh Banfield Show to discuss the death of Tatum Holloway, a vibrant young woman who was killed in a brutal hit-and-run last December. Mr. Bianchi represents Ms. Holloway's parents as they fight to hold accountable the man arrested for her death: Marcos Gonzalez-Balboa, a personal injury lawyer in Miami Lakes.
Footage Stitches Together Picture of Negligence
Earlier this week, the prosecutors who are handling the Gonzalez-Balboa charges brought forward footage that paints a startling picture of the night of December 7. First, a clearly-impaired Gonzalez-Balboa is recorded struggling to exit a parking garage, first having trouble with the ticket feeder, then—after direction from a passerby—spending several minutes attempting to pay for his ticket at a pre-pay machine.
Receipts from that night show that Gonzalez-Balboa bought 19 drinks. Prosecutors didn't speculate how many of those drinks he consumed himself, but regardless, he left the parking garage after several minutes of struggle. Meanwhile, Ms. Tatum Holloway was recorded walking across the street from her hotel to get food at the McDonald's. She's recorded chatting with the cashier shortly after Gonzalez-Balboa has left the parking garage with his pristine 2013 Mercedes-Benz C250.
Ms. Holloway was in town for training. At her day job, she facilitated live art auctions aboard cruise ships, who host the galleries that her company runs.
As Ms. Holloway crosses the street back to her hotel, a Mercedes-Benz of the same color and model struck her, throwing her more than 50 feet away. The car continued on its way. Minutes later, surveillance footage from Gonzalez-Balboa's neighbor's drive shows the lawyer pulling into his garage with his car, now with a damaged windshield and bumper. FBI analysis also shows that he was on his phone in the same area at the same time that Ms. Holloway was struck.
Within the next few days, investigators tied the car to Gonzalez-Balboa, who had replaced the windshield and claimed that a coconut had broken the bumper. He was eventually arrested in March.
Regarding the case, Mr. Bianchi said, “This is a horrible tragedy made all the worse because the drunk driver is a lawyer. We intend to do everything possible to make sure that the Holloway family gets the justice they deserve.”