Officer, I Didn't Notice That Hobo Impaled In My Windshield

This is a true story that happened in St. Pete yesterday. The local news dorks have got to be loving this. Hurricane Wilma and now this!

Windshield Impales, Kills Man In Hit-Run
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By ANTHONY McCARTNEY amccartney@tampatrib.com

Published: Oct 20, 2005


ST. PETERSBURG -- Police were investigating a hit-and-run late Wednesday that involved a homeless man impaled on a sedan windshield.

The driver was stopped at the southbound Interstate 275 tollbooth of the Sunshine Skyway, police said.

The man had been hit more than three miles away at 46th Avenue South and 34th Street South, police said. He apparently was struck by the car while crossing 34th Street. The impact severed one leg and wedged him through the windshield.

Shortly before 8:30 p.m., the car pulled into a middle tollbooth lane where motorists pay $1 to cross the bridge.

Police said the driver was detained and an a ambulance was called. The driver, identified only as an elderly man, was taken to a hospital.

The dead man is thought to have been a transient, police said.

It was unclear whether the driver would be charged.

Two toll lanes were closed as police investigated the crash, with the car covered by a white sheet. Traffic used the other lanes.

Officers examined evidence where the man was struck. A white sheet covered the leg, and an officer collected two mismatched shoes.

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Dodging hurricanes, dealing with a new baby, starting a new business. Busy, busy, busy....

 

All of my relatives from NOLA either lost their homes or got flooded. I spent a week helping my cousin rip all the sheetrock out of the first floor of his Garden District house. Awful stuff. My family down in Bayou La Batre lost their homes as well in the worst flood ever to hit the town. Our house has been slammed with relatives and now we evacuated.

 

This story from the St. Pete Times even has a map explaining what happened. The driver thought the body fell from the sky!?

ST. PETERSBURG - A 93-year-old motorist struck and killed a pedestrian Wednesday evening, then drove about 3 miles with the body lodged in the windshield until he was stopped at a Sunshine Skyway tollbooth.

The driver told officers he thought the body had fallen from the sky, said St. Petersburg police Officer Mike Jockers.

"He had no idea he had been involved in an accident," Jockers said. "He doesn't totally understand what happened."

The crash occurred about 8:30 p.m. when the 52-year-old pedestrian attempted to cross 34th Street S from east to west near 46th Avenue S, witnesses told police.

The pedestrian made it across two of the southbound lanes before he was hit by a 2002 Chevy Malibu, which was traveling about 45 mph, police said.

The impact severed the pedestrian's lower right leg, which remained in the street. His head and arms went through the windshield, while the rest of his body flipped up onto the roof of the car, Jockers said.

"The driver continued southbound, as the eyewitness said, like nothing happened," Jockers said.

As the car approached the toll plaza, the toll taker thought it was a prank, until he saw the blood.

When the driver stopped, the body fell into the car, Jockers said.

A veteran traffic investigator, Jockers said it was one of the most gruesome scenes he has worked.

Neither the name of the driver nor the name of the victim was released Wednesday.

The victim had been living in a motel on 34th Street S. Friends said he had been trying to get to McDonald's for a bite to eat, Jockers said.

The driver, who lives in Pinellas Park, told police that he was headed home. Pinellas Park, however, is miles in the opposite direction.

"Obviously, he was confused," Jockers said. "Incredibly confused."

The driver was taken to Bayfront Medical Center for evaluation.

He will probably not face criminal charges, as he appeared unaware that he had been involved in an accident, Jockers said.

-- Times staff writer Graham Brink contributed to this report.

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