Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Hillsborough briefs

News of note from around the area.

By Times Staff
Published June 2, 2006

Sheriff's car hits man crossing Bruce B. Downs

TAMPA - A pedestrian running across Bruce B. Downs Boulevard near Bearss Avenue was hit by an unmarked Hillsborough sheriff's vehicle about 12:30 p.m. Thursday, a sheriff's official said.

Cpl. Anthony Miller, 40, was driving a unmarked sheriff's car, when he struck Earl L.G. Harmon, 48, of Delray Beach, according to a sheriff's spokeswoman.

Harmon ran across six lanes of traffic, then tried to turn back, when he was struck, said the sheriff's spokeswoman.

He was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital with upper body trauma, said sheriff's Sgt. M.R. Hurley. He was listed in serious condition.

Traffic homicide investigators were called to the scene, standard protocol for crashes involving pedestrians with serious injuries.

Miller has been employed by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office since 1988. He works in the criminal apprehension division.

SUV driver will be cited for collision with city bus

TAMPA - A Ford Explorer collided with a city bus Thursday on Fowler Avenue near 22nd Street, flipping the Explorer and sending its driver to University Community Hospital, Tampa police said.

The woman driving the sport utility vehicle told police she didn't see the bus when she pulled out of a shopping center on the south side of Fowler Avenue, across from University Mall, at 12:51 p.m.

Several people on the bus reported minor injuries, police said.

The SUV driver will be cited for failing to yield the right of way, officer M.D. Roulhac said. Her name was not available Thursday evening.

Mom accused of trying to kill sons gets no bail

The Homosassa woman who was arrested and accused of trying to kill her two disabled children remained in the Citrus County jail on Thursday, held without bail. Arraignment for Krystal Garza is scheduled for June 19, said jail spokeswoman Julia Swart.

Garza, 37, was arrested by sheriff's deputies Tuesday evening after she told them she was trying to kill herself and her 14-year-old twin sons, who have cerebral palsy.

Deputies had searched for Garza after a man called the Sheriff's Office and reported seeing a woman and two children inside a car with a hose running to the exhaust pipe.

The boys were released to the Department of Children and Families after being medically cleared. Garza has asked for a public defender, but the office had not yet received her paperwork Thursday.

[Last modified June 2, 2006, 08:45:14]