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Hit and run

Documents detail confusion over van

Many witnesses said a white van hit Bryant Wilkins and his siblings. Ultimately, deputies said physical evidence pointed to a Toyota Echo.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published July 14, 2004

TAMPA - The aftermath of the hit-and-run was chaotic, the witness accounts plentiful but confused. One thing that many agreed about, though, was the presence of a white van.

Dozens of neighborhood residents were nearby when Bryant Wilkins and his three younger siblings were struck as they crossed 22nd Street the evening of March 31.

The stories told by the witnesses were part of several hundred pages of evidence released Tuesday in preparation for the trial of Jennifer Porter, a Tampa teacher charged with leaving the scene of the fatal crash.

Witness after witness said they saw a southbound white van hit 13-year-old Wilkins as he led his siblings across the street.

The onlookers' statements to deputies were sometimes halting, sometimes uncertain or contradictory. Some said they saw a northbound vehicle drag and kill 3-year-old Durontae Caldwell, but several were adamant about the van, which they described as a mid-sized "work van" with a ladder.

In the initial days of the investigation, it seemed as though the van was a key to solving the hit-and-run case. Then interest in it seemed to evaporate.

Why?

The initial crash scenario outlined by the Sheriff's Office had the van hitting the children and throwing them into the path of a northbound vehicle, later identified by investigators as a Toyota Echo driven by Porter.

The next day, as dozens of tips were called in to 911, sheriff's officials said the van's occupants might have been just a witness to the hit-and-run.

As days passed, sheriff's investigators revised the crash account more than once before declaring the Toyota Echo the only vehicle to hit the children. They said they had physical evidence as well as witnesses.

Two men riding in the same car that evening provided graphic descriptions of a Toyota colliding with the children.

Montanez Thomas of Tampa told Deputy Michael T. Cherup he was riding south on 22nd Street when a silver Toyota Echo swerved into his lane after hitting the children. He recalled seeing the front bumper flying off.

"I seen her literally bounce over those kids - especially the last one," he said.

Antonio Lewis, who was driving, said he saw the car jerk as it struck the children. Then the car accelerated, and "that's when the baby got jumped over," he said.

Both men told deputies they saw a white van at the scene.

Ultimately, investigators said physical evidence pointed to the Echo.

A piece of the Echo's front spoiler broke off at the scene, and blue fibers matching Durontae's clothes were found in the front bumper, according to Cherup's report. Investigators say Durontae was dragged 150 feet under the car after being hit.

Fibers from Aquina Wilkins' shirt were found in the hood near the driver's side headlight, and blue fibers matching Bryant Wilkins' shorts were found on the front bumper, Cherup wrote. Bryant was holding his 2-year-old brother LaJuan Davis when he was hit, witnesses said.

Porter's attorney, Barry Cohen, said the Sheriff's Office has done a poor job of hunting down the van.

"The authorities are apparently not interested in learning the truth about what caused this accident," Cohen said, regarding the white van.

State attorney's spokeswoman Pam Bondi said her office cannot comment on the facts of the case, and Lt. Rod Reder, sheriff's spokesman, refused to discuss whether investigators are still seeking the van's driver as a witness.

- Staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report. Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at svansickler@sptimes.com or 813 226-3373.

[Last modified July 14, 2004, 01:25:37]