Flight risk prompts arrest of hit-and-run suspect

An Ahwatukee Foothills woman charged in a fatal hit-and-run collision was nabbed Friday on allegations she was preparing to flee to Kuwait, where her co-defendant has already gone to avoid trial.

A Mesa detective arrested Reem Ahmad Bishara, 20, shortly before noon at her apartment, police Sgt. Chuck Trapani said.

Court records indicate that Bishara filed notice with her landlord Jan. 25 that she was moving out Friday, and the notice listed a post office box in Kuwait as a forwarding address. Bishara has dual citizenship in the United States and Kuwait.

Bishara’s lease wasn’t due to expire until Aug. 18, according to the notice she filled out.

Robert Hicks, vice president of Mark Taylor Residential, owner of San Melia Apartments, said apartment managers tipped off authorities when they saw Bishara’s paperwork. He said a concerned resident brought Bishara to the attention of managers.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Richard Gama issued an arrest warrant for Bishara after the prosecutor submitted a petition to revoke Bishara’s release on bail.

The arrest came two days after it became public that Bishara’s co-defendant, Muneerah Ali Al-Tarrah, left for Kuwait earlier this month. News of that flight spurred prosecutors to seek contempt of court sanctions against Al-Tarrah’s defense attorney, David Cantor, for not following a court order to take her passport.

Cantor argued that accepting the passport created a conflict of interest for him, and he unsuccessfully fought the order in Arizona Supreme Court.

Bishara’s attorney, Larry Kazan, is under a similar order, and it is unknown whether he took Bishara’s passport. Kazan did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Both women are charged with leaving the scene of a fatal collision in connection with the Sept. 14 death of Todd DeGain, 35, who collided with Al-Tarrah’s Jeep Cherokee while riding a motorized skateboard near Baseline and Alma School roads.

Court spokeswoman J.W. Brown said Bishara will spend the weekend in jail and will appear before Gama on Monday to address whether she will be released again. She had been freed on a $75,000 cash bond.

DeGain’s father, Glenn DeGain, said he’ll be in court to argue for keeping Bishara behind bars or placing her on electronic monitoring if she is released again on bail.

“This speaks to the nature of hit-and-run drivers,” DeGain said. “Anybody who is in an obvious hit-and-run has demonstrated a tendency to flee.”

Al-Tarrah, whose blood alcohol content was nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08, sped away after the collision and crashed again a short distance away, police said. Authorities believe Bishara, whose blood alcohol content was 0.063, was either driving beside Al-Tarrah’s vehicle or just behind her.

Kazan has argued in written pleadings that Bishara neither caused DeGain’s death nor was involved in the crash, other than running over remnants of the skateboard — so she had no duty to stop.