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Baton Rouge police arrested Mia Dawson in the Nicholson Drive hit-and-run that killed an LSU student and her firefighter fiance.
Mia Camille Dawson, 20, was booked on vehicular homicide, operating while impaired, reckless operation, hit-and-run driving and vehicular negligent injuring after Leah Fonte and Shane Hirstius, both 21, were struck while walking on the shoulder of Nicholson Drive at about 2:40 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, WAFB, WBRZ and Fox News reported. WBRZ reported that arrest documents put her blood alcohol level at .048%, above the .02% limit for drivers under 21.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
The number in the arrest paperwork is .048%. For an adult driver that would be well under the legal line, and for a 20-year-old it is more than double the limit. That gap is going to matter, because the vehicular homicide count has to tie impairment to the crash itself. The other fact that will shape this case is what happened after the impact. Police say she drove away, and WBRZ reports she later contacted police about her car. Both parts of that sequence are now evidence.
Mia Camille Dawson, 20, was arrested after Baton Rouge police said she struck and killed two pedestrians, LSU student Leah Fonte and her fiance, volunteer firefighter Shane Hirstius, along Nicholson Drive early Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, WAFB, WBRZ and Fox News reported. Fonte and Hirstius were both 21 and from Metairie, Louisiana. Dawson was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges of operating while impaired, reckless operation of a vehicle, hit-and-run driving, vehicular homicide and vehicular negligent injuring, according to the Baton Rouge Police Department.
Police said Dawson was driving a 2016 Nissan Rogue southbound in the 5000 block of Nicholson Drive at about 2:40 a.m. when she veered off the road and hit the couple, who were walking on the right shoulder, WAFB reported. Fonte died at the scene. Hirstius was taken to a hospital in critical condition and later died. WAFB reported that officers contacted Dawson shortly after the crash in the 1900 block of Nicholson Drive. WBRZ, citing arrest documents, reported that Dawson drove away after the crash, parked the car at a Circle K on Brightside Drive and notified police that her car had been involved in the crash.
According to WBRZ, Dawson told police she had not been drinking. After field sobriety tests, she gave a breath sample that measured .048%, the station reported. That is below the .08% limit for adult drivers, but above the .02% limit that applies in Louisiana to drivers under 21. WBRZ reported that Dawson was scheduled for a first appearance in the 19th Judicial District Court at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19. A bond amount and the name of an attorney for her had not been reported.
Fonte was a senior at LSU studying biological sciences on a pre-dental track, WAFB reported. Hirstius was an operator and firefighter with the Third District Volunteer Fire Department, which said the couple had been out celebrating a friend's birthday. WBRZ reported the two got engaged in 2025 and had planned to marry in March 2028. LSU president Wade Rousse sent condolences to Fonte's family in a statement, Fox News reported. Police said the investigation is ongoing. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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