Northpinellas: Pinellas digest

TARPON SPRINGS -- A locker room fight Friday morning at Tarpon Springs Middle School left one boy with a concussion and another facing a felony charge, according to police. Two boys dressing for physical education class got into a shoving match, police said. At some point, the seventh-grader punched the sixth-grader in the chest, police said, so the sixth-grader punched the seventh-grader in the face. The seventh-grader, whose name was not available, fell and might have hit his head on either a concrete bench or a locker, Tarpon Springs police Sgt. Jeffrey Young said. The boy, 12, became ill and disoriented in the school nurse's office, Young said. He was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where he was in stable condition with head trauma Friday afternoon and was waiting to be taken to All Children's Hospital for observation. Witnesses told officers the sixth-grader could have avoided the fight. The 11-year-old, whose name is being withheld by the Times because of his age, was arrested and charged with felony battery and disruption of a school function. He told police the other boy started the fight by pushing him for no reason.

Motorcyclist dies after hitting truck

A motorcyclist was killed early Friday morning after he ran into a truck just east of the Pinellas-Hillsborough county line, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Howard L. Gaines, 25, of Tampa was riding alongside another motorcyclist eastbound on State Road 580 about 2 a.m. when the crash occurred east of Race Track Road. The speeding motorcycles approached a slower-moving truck driven by Phillip Fauk, 40, of Oldsmar, troopers said. Gaines apparently failed to see the truck and crashed into the back of it. The crash threw him onto the road. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The case is under investigation, troopers said.

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