Car dragging death suspect faces murder count

updated 2:36 p.m. ET June 7, 2007

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A man accused of killing a woman by dragging her for miles under a minivan was charged with murder Thursday after arriving back in the state from New York.

Abdelaziz Hamze, 24, was being held without bond on a first-degree murder charge in the Sunday death of Sandra Hall, Broward County sheriff’s spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright said.

Officials said the minivan driven by Hamze struck a car carrying Hall, 44. Both vehicles stopped in traffic, and Hall got out of the car. Hamze hit her and drove off, lodging her underneath the moving vehicle for miles, officials said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hamze has said he is innocent. Defense lawyer Jeffrey Voluck said he believed his client “was in fear he was going to get killed,” and that someone had threatened Hamze.

Hamze was detained Monday at New York’s Kennedy airport while aboard a plane that was taxiing for a flight to Greece. He declared his innocence at an extradition hearing this week in New York.

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