Gary Lee Teets Jr., 31, was a passenger in the truck that rolled into an overgrown canal along Causeway Boulevard.
By JAMES THORNER
Published May 28, 2003
LAND O'LAKES - An investigation continues into the death of a Tampa man who drowned Monday evening inside a pickup that crashed into a Land O'Lakes swamp.
The Florida Highway Patrol on Tuesday identified the accident victim as Gary Lee Teets Jr., 31, of 6910 W Waters Ave.
Teets was a passenger inside a 1979 Chevrolet pickup driven by Jeff Schaer, 22, of 20840 Chisholm Trail in Land O'Lakes.
About 7 p.m. on Memorial Day, Schaer rolled the pickup into an overgrown canal that runs along a twisting stretch of Causeway Boulevard.
Schaer veered his pickup into the opposing lane of traffic, and, trying to correct the error, rolled the truck onto its roof in the canal, the Highway Patrol said.
He and another passenger, Ryan Burby, 21, of 7401 St. Matthews Drive in Land O'Lakes, broke free from the truck. Teets died.
Causeway Boulevard acquired the name "Dead Man's Road" in the 1980s after several people crashed and drowned in the roadside canal.
Later, Pasco County installed guardrails along the first of several twists in the road, but the embankment where Schaer overturned is unprotected.
Next to where the truck plunged into the canal hangs an old sign, nailed to a utility pole, reading: "Caution - portion of guard rail missing."
On Tuesday, several cars took bends in the road too quickly and couldn't hold their lanes. A 30 mph speed limit sign had been vandalized with black paint to read 80 mph.
