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Passenger dead after car crashes into tree

The driver is accused of leaving the scene and walking home. His fiance alerted authorities.

By JAMIE THOMPSON
Published January 23, 2005

DUNEDIN - A 33-year-old Clearwater man sped around a curve in his black Mercedes early Saturday, lost control and slammed into a tree, killing his passenger, authorities said.

The driver, Kenneth Alan Kubeck, got out of his car and walked 2.4 miles home, authorities said. He left his passenger, Rodney D. Bone, in the wrecked car, authorities said.

Kubeck returned to the accident scene about an hour and a half later with his fiance, who called authorities about 3:30 a.m.

Bone, 37, of Dover, was pronounced dead at the scene, said Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Tim Goodman.

Kubeck was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on charges of leaving the scene of an accident with death and driving with a suspended license. Both alcohol and speed were factors in the crash, Goodman said.

Authorities did not know whether a faster response by paramedics could have saved Bone. But they said it was unlikely, as the passenger side of the car slammed directly into the tree.

"From what they indicated to me, it was a pretty hard hit, and he had no chance of surviving," Goodman said.

The accident occurred about 2:05 a.m. as Kubeck drove his car west on Scottsdale Street, just east of Patricia Avenue, Goodman said. Kubeck then walked to his home at 2490 Moorehaven Drive W in Clearwater, where he met his fiance, 39-year-old Robin E. Bolding.

[Last modified January 23, 2005, 00:13:14]