A Palm Harbor man on his nightly walk is left lying in the road by all but one of four drivers who struck him.
By NORA KOCH
Published March 17, 2004
PALM HARBOR - Tony Iuele and his wife spent Saturday evening watching TV and playing video games before he went out for his usual walk at about 11 o'clock.
His wife, Susan Sanders, stayed home, in bed, watching Seinfeld, waiting. But Tony never came back.
Iuele, 50, was killed that night as he stepped off the median into the westbound lane of Tampa Road, near the couple's condo off Strathmore Gate Drive E.
He was knocked to the roadway by a vehicle, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, then struck by another. And then two more.
Only one of the four drivers who hit Iuele stopped. Authorities are now looking for the other three.
Iuele died at the scene, on Tampa Road between Lake St. George Drive and McMullen-Booth Road, according to the FHP, which responded to the call at about 11:22 p.m.
Sanders, 39, found out the next morning after she woke up alone. She went looking for him, and later helped police identify him by his jewelry and clothes.
Sanders thinks someone out there knows what happened, and she hopes they will come forward.
"Because if they would do that to a human being, then they'll do it again," she said. "And I want to save the absolute, heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching agony that I am going through and will go through for the rest of my life from happening to someone else."
She is angry.
"The least they could have done is stopped somewhere and called 911," she said.
Now troopers are searching for the vehicles that struck Iuele. Investigators analyzed paint chips found on Iuele's body and notified local body shops and patrol officers to watch for vehicles with front-end damage.
"Unfortunately we don't have hardly anything to go on," said Trooper Larry E. Coggins Jr., spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol.
What they do have is a sketchy description of a vehicle with square tail lights that troopers say was the first to strike the man.
The second vehicle that hit him was a 1995 Oldsmobile driven by Tara L. Hall of Palm Harbor, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Hall, 30, pulled her vehicle to the side to help.
By the time Hall got out of her car and called for assistance, two more vehicles had struck Iuele. They kept going.
Sanders spent Tuesday making funeral arrangements. She has not seen her husband's body, but investigators told her it had been badly mangled. Iuele will be cremated and his ashes flown to his native California, where services will be held, Sanders said.
The couple met while both were living in Charlotte, N.C., and married 12 years ago. After spending a few years on the West Coast, they moved to Palm Harbor about a year ago to be closer to Sanders' parents.
Recently Iuele and Sanders started discussing the possibility of having children. But for now, they doted on their two dachshunds, Leo and Dixie.
Until a recent knee injury, Iuele worked as a cook at a restaurant in Palm Harbor. He was out of work while recovering from surgery, and took a walk several times a day, usually on Tampa Road, Sanders said.
He was a movie buff and loved playing video games, especially a James Bond game that frustrated him, even on the night of his death. For the couple, movies and games were part of their "regular best friend routine," Sanders said.
"I've not only lost my husband," she said, "I've lost my best friend."
Anyone with information regarding the three vehicles involved in the fatal accident on Tampa Road is asked to contact the Florida Highway Patrol at 1-888-632-6859, ext. 323.
