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West Melbourne police rearrested Kavan Patel and charged him with second-degree murder after a 14-year-old boy died.
WESH, WFTV, and ClickOrlando reported Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, that Patel, 32, was taken back into custody after the boy police say he struck with a vehicle on Oct. 13 was taken off life support Saturday and died. He had been charged with aggravated battery and leaving the scene of a crash. He is being held without bond at the Brevard County Jail on the murder charge.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
Sunday's count is the death. The conduct police described Tuesday is the same conduct: they say he hit a 14-year-old with a car after a reported break-in at his store, left, and did not tell the officers who met him at the shop. WESH reported Tuesday night that he was held without bond ahead of a Wednesday hearing, and on Sunday that a judge had set a $40,000 bond on those first charges. After the boy died, the murder rearrest is without bond. A bond on the battery case is not a finding on the murder count.
Kavan Vishnubhai Patel, 32, was rearrested Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, and charged with second-degree murder after a 14-year-old boy died, the West Melbourne Police Department said, as reported by WESH, WFTV, and ClickOrlando. WFTV reported he was taken into custody just after 10 a.m. Space Coast Daily, citing the department, reported the boy was taken off life support and died at 11:46 p.m. Saturday. WFTV reported the death came Saturday evening after he was removed from life support, and that his family decided to donate his organs.
Officers were sent about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, to the Corner Store at 1100 S. Wickham Road for a reported burglary in progress, WESH and WFTV reported. WESH described the business as a vape shop. Florida Today, reporting the Tuesday arrest, called it the Quick Check Food Store at that address. Police said they arrived within four minutes and that Patel, the owner, told them an alarm company had alerted him, that the front glass door was broken, and that he saw a male in a light-colored hoodie leaving on an electric bicycle. During a search that WFTV said included Brevard County deputies and Melbourne police, officers found the boy on the side of Cocoanut Grove Avenue. WESH reported he was unresponsive. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition. WFTV reported he was first taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center and later to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital.
Detectives say Patel intentionally struck the boy with his vehicle, left, and went back to the store, WESH reported, quoting the department. The station reported he did not tell responding officers and disclosed it only after detectives confronted him, and that the boy stayed on the roadside for nearly an hour without aid. Lt. Graig Erenstoft, the department's public information officer, told WESH on Tuesday that Patel followed the boy in a vehicle instead of waiting for police and "at some point runs into the bicyclist trying to stop him." WESH, citing the arrest report, reported Patel admitted he was angry and that he struck the boy at about 30 mph. He was first charged with aggravated battery and leaving the scene of a crash involving serious injury. ClickOrlando reported that at the first hearing a judge called the allegations disturbing and said, "The fact that the alleged victim is a juvenile, that's something." WESH reported Tuesday night that he was held without bond and had a hearing set for Wednesday. Florida Today's Tuesday account also said he was held without bond. WESH's Sunday account said that appearance produced a $40,000 bond on the original charges. WFTV and ClickOrlando reported that after Sunday's rearrest he is held without bond at the Brevard County Jail on the murder charge. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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