'Sick': Indialantic dance studio owners horrified after ballroom dancer arrested at studio for hit-and-run

INDIALANTIC, Fla. - Local dance studio owners are speaking out and shocked after a professional ballroom dancer was arrested at their studio this week. 

The woman, 24-year old Rebekah Tate, was wanted by police after West Melbourne investigators say she allegedly hit a motorcycle rider and left him in the street after trying to hide evidence and fleeing the scene.  

Both the Dancin’ Dance studio owner and studio manager met with FOX 35’s Esther Bower on Friday night at their studio off A1A in Indialantic. 

They’re still trying to process what unfolded and say Tate was a professional ballroom dancer who came to practice at their studio often. 

They couldn’t believe it when officers from both West Melbourne and Indialantic searched the studio looking for a suspect. 

The investigation started early Sunday morning when a mangled motorcycle was found crushed by a car in West Melbourne at the intersection of Dairy Road and U.S. 192.

Police had to piece together the crime because the crash was a hit-and-run. 

West Melbourne police officers ended up at the Dancin’ Dance ballroom studio to make an arrest two days later. They found and took into custody 24-year-old Rebekah Tate.

She’s accused of hitting a motorcycle rider on U.S. 192 and Dairy Road early Sunday morning. Police say, she also tried to hide evidence of the accident and then fled the scene, leaving the victim lying in the road.

"Sick. I mean, my fiancé has a motorcycle. He’s a biker and I mean, how can someone like keep a person laying in the idle of the road and just leave him and take off, not knowing if he’s dead, alive if you can save him, anything you know," exclaimed studio owner, Heidi Rae Arnold. 

She, along with studio manager Geoffrey Sandland run the Dancin’ Dance studio and were there when police came on Wednesday. 

"They just came right through the back door asked us where Rebekah Tate was," said Arnold. 

"They just went into the office, couple of minutes later maybe, they walked her out of the back, took her to a car. They handcuffed her outside," said Arnold and Sandland. 

The studio says Tate was not a teacher at the studio but did partner with other ballroom dancers at the studio. 

Tate bonded out of jail on Friday, and new 911 calls obtained by FOX 35 show what happened when someone spotted the victim lying in the street.

"Is there any other vehicles around?," asked a dispatcher. "Nothing, I don’t see anybody. Someone just left him here, unfortunately," said the first eyewitness on scene, Billy LeBlanc. 

He’s a Doordash driver who noticed the victim and jumped in to help. 

"Tell me exactly what happened," asked the 911 dispatcher on the call. "I just see someone laying in the road. I was about to take a right-hand turn. I would have run him over if I didn’t see him, but I noticed him on the road laying there," Le Blanc says on the recording. 

The delivery driver is also heard on the 911 call, asking if the suspect is okay and told the dispatcher, "I think he’s dead. He’s not moving."

Thankfully, the victim, John Powell, didn’t die. Friends tell FOX 35, he had surgery on Friday but will need another, according to doctors.

He has several fractures and broken bones in his legs.

"I’m glad I was there and was able to help him," said Le Blanc who many are crediting for saving the victim’s life. 

There is a GoFund Me created to help the victim. 

The suspect police arrested spent less than three days in jail for this alleged crime. FOX 35 reached out to her attorney for comment on this case. At this time, we have not heard back.