Witness said Villager who hit golf cart ‘could barely see over the steering wheel’

A witness to a hit-and-run crash told an investigator the 95-year-old Villager whose car hit a golf cart "could barely see over the steering wheel."

New details are emerging in the case of Elinor Levitt, who lives at Sumter Senior Living in The Villages. She is facing a felony charge of hit and run after her green 2007 Mercury Montego hit a golf cart in December in the Village of Chatham.

It took the Florida Highway Patrol more than two months to track down Levitt, who previously lived in the Village of Calumet Grove.

Nancy Lou Hooper, 81, was in her brown 2017 Yamaha golf cart at about 4:30 p.m. Dec. 29 when she was leaving the Chatham Postal Station. She was traveling on SE 172nd Legacy Lane when she was hit by a car that left the scene. The Michigan native was taken to Ocala Regional Medical Center where she spent several weeks in the intensive care unit. Hooper, a full-time resident of The Villages since 2007, suffered broken legs, broken ribs and blood clots.

A Villager who witnessed the crash told an investigator that the woman driving the car "could barely see over the steering wheel." He tried to get her to stop, but she kept going.

Thanks to video from the gate cameras in The Villages, an investigator tracked down Levitt's car at Sumter Senior Living on County Road 466A. The investigator had first gone to Levitt's old home in Calumet Grove looking for the vehicle, but found the garage was empty. The car, when found at Sumter Senior Living, still had damage on the driver's side fender and door. Levitt initially refused to meet with the investigator and would only speak to him by phone. She later claimed she wasn't sure where the collision occurred.

A warrant was issued for Levitt's arrest and she was taken into custody on April 26. She remains free on bond.

In December, 91-year-old Marilyn Hamilton of The Villages was sentenced to five years in prison after hitting husband-and-wife bicyclists in 2020 with her Mercedes. She fled the scene, but was tracked down after she had her Mercedes towed to a dealership in Gainesville. Thanks to a description of the car provided by a witness, law enforcement was on the lookout for the white luxury sedan.