By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

BIRMINGHAM—The suspected driver in a fatal hit-and-run accident on U.S. 280 was released from the Shelby County Jail on Aug. 9 after posting bonds totaling $120,000.

Michael Terry Canty III, 31, was arrested by the Birmingham Police Department on Aug. 6 and was charged with one felony count of leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and one count of criminal tampering with physical evidence in connection to a hit-and-run accident on U.S. 280 that left a Birmingham woman dead.

The Birmingham Police Department received a call regarding the accident on U.S. 280 and Key Drive at 5:39 a.m. on Aug. 5.

According to the Birmingham Police Department, the victim, Margaret Allison Elliot, 49, was allegedly struck by Canty’s vehicle and killed as she was crossing U.S. 280 eastbound at Key Drive.

Canty allegedly fled the scene of the accident and drove to Brown’s Garage and Body Shop in Tuscaloosa, where he “attempted to have the damage to his vehicle fixed, informing the body shop that he had struck a deer,” according to a bond recommendation form filed in the Shelby County District Court by the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.

Canty has a lengthy history of criminal driving charges or convictions, including two counts of leaving the scene of an accident, six counts of driving under the influence and numerous counts of failure to appear, driving while suspended and speeding, the bond recommendation form lists.

Canty is scheduled to appear before Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 2 at 8:30 a.m.