While on an errand, the Port Richey resident is knocked off his bike by a FedEx truck and killed on State Road 52.
By RICHARD RAEKE
Published June 3, 2004
PORT RICHEY - More than an hour after Leonard Moore left to buy a bottle of Tylenol for a disabled neighbor, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper pulled into their apartment complex Wednesday afternoon.
Bobbie Arroyo already had begun worrying about "Lenny."
Moore had pedaled away on his green Roadmaster bicycle down Pasco Terrace Court on his way to the Walgreens on State Road 52, less than a half mile east of U.S. 19.
It was a familiar route for Moore, 54, who often ran errands for his elderly and disabled neighbors. Moore was mentally disabled, his neighbors said.
"Just about anything we asked him to do, he'd do," said 88-year-old Helen Chappell. "And he'd even do some things that we didn't ask him to do."
In the driveway of Cricketers pub, he stopped along the right side of a FedEx truck about 1:15 p.m. As the truck turned right onto SR 52, Moore began to pedal across the street, witnesses said. He was knocked off his bicycle to the hot asphalt. The FedEx truck dragged the bike a block, leaving gouge marks in the pavement.
"I thought, "Who would drive away after hitting someone?' " said Katie Kinsey, who was working at the Simplicity Day Spa and saw the truck strike Moore. "Then I realized he probably didn't know that he hit him."
The FedEx truck, driven by Michael Ferruzza, 44, of Spring Hill, pulled over at the next intersection.
"They both didn't see each other," Kinsey said. "It was a classic accident."
She ran outside with her client, Denise Randall, a former trauma nurse.
Moore's stomach was swollen, and he had a weak pulse, Randall said. It appeared as if he was bleeding internally, she said.
Kinsey got some cold compresses for his body, but soon Moore's eyes locked in place.
"All of a sudden, I'm thinking, I'm looking at a dead man," Kinsey said.
As Moore lay covered in a sheet on SR 52, an elderly woman gingerly walked down Pasco Terrace Court and into the parking lot. She stopped and gripped her cane at the sight.
"Oh my God. Lenny," she cried.
Moore moved into the Pasco Terrace apartment complex 14 months ago. Each day he made the rounds, knocking on doors and checking on his neighbors.
"He'd make sure that I had water and food. He'd check my refrigerator to see if I needed any groceries," said Arroyo, who is wheelchair bound. When she went into the hospital for surgery, Moore scrubbed her floor, opened the shades in her apartment every day, and vacuumed and dusted. He also planted flowers outsider her duplex.
He loved roses and gardening and kept a book of flower varieties. Chappell said Moore could tell a gladiola from its picture, even though he called them "gladiators."
He lived alone with his cat, Summer, and his fish, Bubble.
"I'm just glad that he went innocently and didn't suffer much. And that somebody's taking care of him," she said. "He's in a much better place now."
The FHP was investigating the fatal crash Wednesday evening. The agency is asking anyone with information to call 1-800-235-6019 and ask for Trooper William Foden or Cpl. H. Glenny-Schambach.
