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Man held in Road Ranger's death

The driver who ran down the roadside trouble aide March 5 is jailed without bail on a charge of DUI manslaughter.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published July 5, 2006

Florida Highway Patrol troopers on Sunday arrested a driver who ran into and killed a Road Ranger in March, after test results showed his blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal level of impairment.

Benjamin J. Green, 31, of St. Petersburg, was arrested on a charge of DUI manslaughter. He was being held without bail at the Orient Road Jail in Hillsborough County.

Blood was drawn from Green at the scene of the accident. A recently completed toxicology report said his blood-alcohol level was 0.146 percent. Florida law presumes a driver becomes impaired at .08 or higher.

On March 5, Road Ranger Donald Bradshaw, 66, of St. Petersburg, was shutting down a traffic lane along southbound Interstate 275 near the Howard-Armenia exit in Tampa to help the driver of a wrecked Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Green, driving a 1992 Nissan Sentra, passed stopped cars and barrelled through flares and traffic cones before crashing into Bradshaw, the FHP said.

Terry Hensley, an incident manager for the Department of Transportation, said he hoped the arrest would highlight the consequences of drinking and driving.

“Anytime someone is charged with manslaughter, it gets people’s attention a little bit,” Hensley said.

Bradshaw was the second Road Ranger to die on the job along that stretch of interstate. Justin Willis, 19, was killed a few days after Christmas 2001 as he set out orange cones around an accident on I-275 at Lois Avenue. The motorist responsible has not been caught despite offers of rewards.

Road Rangers patrol I-275, Interstate 4 and other major roads in the area as part of a program underwritten by the Florida Department of Transportation, which contracts with Anchor Towing. They check on every vehicle pulled off the road, and carry jugs of fuel and other supplies.

Bradshaw was a Coast Guard veteran who enjoyed fishing and baking. Last year, he used his own money to buy matching hats for fellow rangers.

Green’s past driving record includes speeding, driving without a valid license and driving the wrong way on a one-way street. He also has a criminal record including arrests on charges of cocaine and marijuana possession and battery of a law enforcement officer.

Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8472.

[Last modified July 9, 2006, 09:03:00]