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Driver who caused Cherokee to flip is still at large

Deputies think they have identified the man who drove through a red light, hit the vehicle and escaped on foot.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published December 13, 2005

	[Times photo: Eamonn Kneeshaw]
	Sheriff's deputies are looking for the driver who they believe caused this accident.

DUNEDIN - Deputies continued Monday to search for the driver of a car that ran a red light Sunday night and slammed into a Jeep Cherokee, causing it to flip into two other cars, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said.

The driver of the Jeep, Mary Duffey, 41, of Dunedin, was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg and later released, authorities said. Her passenger, Jeff A. Ducharme, 34, of Clearwater, was treated at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa and released.

The suspect sought in the crash was not identified Monday, though detectives think they may know who he is. He was described only as a black man in his late teens or early 20s, wearing blues shorts and a white jacket with blue stripes. He was driving a white 1998 Chevy Monte Carlo.

At 6:18 p.m. Sunday, deputies first saw the car run several stop signs along Solon Avenue, headed west from Belcher Road, said sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha. The deputies turned on their lights and tried to pull the car over at Keene Road.

The driver instead turned south onto Keene and sped away from deputies, Pasha said. At the intersection of Main Street, the fleeing car raced through a red light, hitting the westbound Jeep.

The Jeep flipped, striking a Nissan Sentra and Chevy Cavalier, and came to a rest on its roof, Pasha said. Regina Crist, 58, of Dunedin, who was driving the Sentra, did not sustain any serious injuries. Nor did the two people in the Cavalier: driver Luann Labarbera, 45, and passenger Kathryn Kelleher, 61, both of Dunedin.

The man in the Monte Carlo then got out and ran from the scene, Pasha said. The car was registered to Felicia Currington, 40, of Clearwater, but investigators have not determined whether the driver has any connection to her.

--Currington could not be reached for comment Monday.

[Last modified December 13, 2005, 01:30:24]