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Courtesy photo/NSB police mug shots. NSBNEWS.net photo (at right) by Henry Frederick. Jana Calisse Grant, 47, of New Smyrna Beach, accused in the fatal hit-and-run accident that left a 42-year-old Port Orange man dead on the side of the road on the North Causeway, has bonded out of jail. She met a friend at her Canal Street salon soon after the fatal crash instead of rendering help, according to New Smyrna Beach police investigators who carried out an exhaustive investigation that led to her arrest eight months after Glenn Scott Gagnon was left to die on the side of the North Causeway.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Jana Calisse Grant, the 47-year-old salon owner accused of striking a pedestrian and leaving him to die and then washing his blood off her vehicle at a nearby car wash, avoided a first appearance before a judge Saturday at the Volusia Branch Jail by making bail.
The $11,500 bail was posted before Saturday's mid-day first apperance schedule of jailed suspects, less than 24 hours after Grant was arrested by New Smyrna Beach police on the principal charge of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 yers in prison, and tampering with physical evidence, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
A telephone mesage for comment left with Grant after she made bail went unanswered. Her case has been assigned to the criminal docket of Circuit Judge James R. Clayton at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand. She will be issued a summons to appear for arraignment once a date has been set by the clerk of the court.
Glenn Scott Gagnon, 42, of Port Orange, was struck while walking west on the side of the road on the North Causeway by Grant's 2006 four-door Chevy Silverado pick-up truck about 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 1, after leaving a party during which she drank wine, according to a police affidavit.
Gagnon was struck with such force by the front right side of the vehicle that the collision resulted in a large dent on the right fender almost to the door, a damage headlight, a cracked windshield and a broken mirror. Gagnon's left shoe was 5 feet from his body.
Gagnon's last known conversation with anyone was a cell phone call he had with his girlfriend 5 minutes before his death. He was upset that management at the Flagler tavern asked him to leave.
Grant, too, made a series of calls to a male friend, asking him to meet her at Wendy's after she reported to him what had happened. He drove by and saw the emergency vehicles and police on the scene and eventually they met up at her salon on Canal Street, according to the police report. The friend later advised her to "get an attorney" after she had the blood washed from her vehicle, according to the police report. Police also had corroborating statements from another friend that Grant had been drinking wine at a party earlier that Halloween night.
Police caught up with Grant several days after the crash and initially she told them she had struck a deer, but then admiited she was aware from media reports that she had struck and killed a pedestrian and failed to stop. Police informed Grant that they were lede to her by a tipster. The vehicle was seized through a warrant and processed for evidence by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Police also noted in the charging affidavit that this was not the first time Grant has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident, as referenced in the charging affidavit.
A review of court records shows Grant pleaded no contest to leaving the scene of an acident, a misdeameanor, and no contest to careless driving, an infraction. Adjudication of guilt on the misdemeanor was withheld by County Judge John Roger Smith on June 21, 2006.
That April 15, Grant was involved in a hit-and-run accident at 3 in the morning in the 700 block of Third Avenue while driving a 1999 Chevy, according to tickets on file with the clerk of the court.