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Two traffic accidents leave 1 dead, 2 hurt

Authorities say an SUV lost control and crossed a median, striking a car. In a separate incident, a man was hit while crossing a road.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published August 9, 2005

LARGO - One person was killed and another critically injured in separate, unrelated traffic crashes over the weekend, authorities said Monday.

Patricia McCarthy, 60, of Largo was riding in a Ford Escort westbound on Ulmerton Road, approaching Feather Sound Drive, shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday, the Florida Highway Patrol said. An oncoming GMC Envoy lost control on the wet roadway, crossed the center median and entered the westbound lanes, FHP said.

The Escort and Envoy collided, then a Chevrolet Lumina crashed as well, the FHP said. Paramedics treated the drivers of the Envoy and Lumina at the scene.

McCarthy, however, was killed in the crash and the driver of the car she was in, Scott Andrews, 50, was taken to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where he was in serious condition Monday.

No charges have been filed.

Two and half hours later and 6 miles away, the second crash occurred.

Roger D. Siple, 41, was struck and critically injured at 9:31 p.m. while trying to walk across Belcher Road N at Coit Road, a section of street just north of East Bay Drive without a marked crossing, Largo police said.

Siple and fiance Cheryl P. Brown, 36, who live in the neighborhood there, started walking west across Belcher to get to a Westshore Pizza, said Sgt. Butch Ward. But the two, who had been drinking, decided instead to return to their home on Euclid Circle East, Ward said.

As they went back, the couple saw an oncoming northbound car and began to run, Ward said. Brown made it safely to the sidewalk; Siple didn't.

The car, a Chevrolet Lumina driven by Lisa R. Poutre, 39, struck Siple, who flew into the windshield, police said. Poutre stopped and was not cited.

Siple was taken to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg in critical condition but was upgraded to fair condition Monday afternoon, a hospital spokeswoman said.

[Last modified August 9, 2005, 01:23:15]