Riley Coston, 21, moved wrecked car twice after fatally striking 19-year-old Chance Martin: cops

A Kentucky man fled a collision that killed a teenager and repeatedly moved his damaged vehicle to conceal evidence, police said.

Riley Coston, 21, of Kentucky, was arrested in Lexington after investigators tracked down the vehicle, police said.

Officers responded around 3:56 a.m. Sunday to East High Street, where a pedestrian had been struck, according to police.

Chance Lee Martin, 19, had been struck and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The vehicle involved in the crash had fled before officers arrived on the street, police said. But investigators turned to automatic license plate readers to trace the car, authorities said.

Information from the license plate readers helped officers identify a potential suspect vehicle, police said.

Evidence recovered from the crash scene also helped investigators confirm the involvement of the vehicle, according to police.

According to Coston’s arrest citation, the 21-year-old allegedly drove the visibly damaged vehicle to a secluded farm, police said.

The defendant allegedly drove there intending to conceal evidence he believed could be used in an official proceeding, the citation states.

Coston allegedly returned later and moved the vehicle again to another location in a further attempt to hide it, authorities said.

Police eventually located the vehicle in Scott County on Monday, investigators said.

Officers then located and arrested the suspect in Lexington the following day, police said.

Coston is charged with leaving the scene/failure to render aid involving death or serious injury, court documents state.

The accused man also faces a count of tampering with physical evidence, according to authorities.

A not-guilty plea was entered Tuesday on the hit-and-run and tampering charges, court records show.

The fatal crash is not the defendant’s only pending criminal case, according to records.

Coston was indicted in 2024 on charges of kidnapping, terroristic threatening and assault, police said.

In that separate case, police alleged the defendant and two other men attempted to kidnap another man. The victim accused Coston of striking his hand with a hammer and threatening to kill him, according to authorities.

Those allegations remain pending against the defendant, with Coston due back in court in November, records show.

On the charges stemming from the fatal collision, Coston is due back in court September 24, according to records.