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Family sues driver 2 years after fatal crash

The FHP says the accident was caused by a man lying in the road, not by the driver.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published July 30, 2005

INVERNESS - Nearly two years after the death of Terry Wayne Oliver Jr., his family still believes the man who ran over him is to blame.

Oliver died in August 2003 after he was run over by a car in Homosassa. He was lying on the road at the time of the accident, investigators say. The driver of the car, Ian Douglas Stuart, now 27, was not charged in connection with the accident.

Now Oliver's family has filed a wrongful death suit against Stuart. The family claims Stuart's negligence caused their son's death, according to court documents. The suit was filed Thursday at the Citrus County Courthouse by lawyer Greg Jones. Oliver's parents, Barbara and Terry Wayne Oliver Sr., as well as Oliver's son, Terry Wayne Oliver III, are listed as potential beneficiaries.

The circumstances surrounding Oliver's death were a puzzle to his family at the time he died. No one was able to explain why Oliver was lying on West Bradshaw Street at 3:30 a.m. Aug. 16.

The Florida Highway Patrol says Oliver was on the road when Stuart ran over him with a 2000 Plymouth Voyager. It wasn't clear if Oliver had been drinking, but alcohol was a factor with Stuart, according to the FHP report.

Oliver was flown to Tampa General Hospital, where he died a few hours later. He had recently turned 22.

Stuart was not injured in the accident, according to the report. He could not be reached Friday afternoon for comment.

The FHP investigated the accident and decided Stuart was not the one responsible for it, said FHP spokesman Trooper Larry Coggins.

"Mr. Stuart did not cause this crash," he said. "The man lying in the road caused the crash."

In a 2003 interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Oliver's sister, Bunny, 32, said Oliver might have been drunk that night, but he wasn't drunk enough to fall asleep in the road.

Oliver's girlfriend, Janice Gordon, 41, told the Times she, Bunny Oliver and her boyfriend had dropped Oliver off near the Old Mill in Homosassa because he wanted to speak with a cousin about trading his truck for a gun and money.

Oliver and Gordon could not be reached Friday, and calls to Oliver's mother were not returned.

Oliver, a commercial fisherman who had moved to Florida from Ohio, was working construction jobs that summer until the stone crab season began. With another man, he was arrested in July 2003 on charges of battery after an incident with a floor lamp. Oliver told investigators he was defending his girlfriend, Gordon, from her brother, Tony Jesse Lindsey, during a fight at her Homosassa home. Deputies say Lindsey hit his sister with the lamp.

Stuart has had run-ins with the law since the accident.

He pleaded no contest in September 2003 to charges of disorderly intoxication in a public place, according to court records. He was arrested that same month on charges of assault with threat of violence, but records show prosecutors dropped the charges.

Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 860-7312 or vansickle@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 30, 2005, 01:09:17]