A former member of a Tampa church faces a maximum five-year prison sentence if convicted on the charge of driving without a license.
By Associated Press
Published January 1, 2004
FORT PIERCE - A former member of Tampa's Deeper Life Christian Church has been charged with a third-degree felony stemming from a van accident that killed a 14-year-old boy.
Abdoulaye Diakhate was charged Tuesday with driving without a license in an accident involving serious injury or death, said St. Lucie County Assistant State Attorney Amy LeBlanc. He remained at large.
Diakhate was driving a seven-passenger Dodge van June 8 when it spun out of control on Florida's Turnpike and flipped twice. The van carried 15 people, 11 of them children. Most were thrown from the van. It came to rest atop Williams Middle School student Solomon Bostick, killing him.
Diakhate said he was returning to Deeper Life headquarters in Tampa from South Florida after several days of streetside solicitations for the church. Church officials said it was an unauthorized excursion to take the children to the beach.
Diakhate, who left the church soon after the accident, faces a maximum five-year prison sentence if convicted. A call to his attorney, Sami Thalji, was not immediately returned.
