Woman called Snape who claimed to be Harry Potter accused of killing judge in hit-and-run

This photo provided by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office shows Nastasia Snape

((Associated Press))

A Florida woman, who claimed to be Harry Potter, has been arrested after a federal judge was killed and a six-year-old boy was injured in a hit-and-run crash.

Nastasia Snape, 23, who shares a surname with the prominent character Severus Snape in the Harry Potter novels, was arrested by Delray Police officers on Friday morning.

In a probable cause affidavit released over the weekend, officers said that on Friday morning a car allegedly being driven by Ms Snape swerved around traffic and onto a pavement in Delray Beach, which is situated close to Fort Lauderdale.

The car struck Sandra Feuerstein, 75, a federal judge in New York’s Eastern District. Ms Feuerstein was pronounced dead later that day at a local hospital.

After driving the car back onto the road, Ms Snape then allegedly struck a six-year-old boy who was walking across the road on a pedestrian crossing, seriously injuring him in the process.

The authorities wrote in the affidavit that Ms Snape then drove away from the scene before crashing her car in a nearby area.

Ms Snape was found shortly after, unconscious behind the wheel of a crashed car matching eyewitness description of the one involved in the earlier incidents.

After emergency crews managed to get her out of the car and into an ambulance, Ms Snape then allegedly tried fighting with the medical workers while shouting that she was Harry Potter.

The authorities said that they found a synthetic drug in Ms Snape’s purse that causes excited delirium in the user.

Ms Snape has denied being involved in the two crashes, and is currently being held in custody with a $60,000 (£43,634) bond, on suspicion of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crash involving death.

Ms Feuerstein served as a New York state judge for 16 years before being nominated by former President George W Bush to the federal bench in 2003.

Her alma mater, Cardozo School of Law, released a statement on Sunday saying: “Our thoughts are with her family at this time.”

While Eugene Corcoran, the Eastern Court District’s executive, said that Ms Feuerstein’s “eccentric style and warm personality lit up the courtroom”, adding: “She will be missed by her colleagues and litigants alike.”

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