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U.S. 19 claims pair of pedestrians in brief span

A New Port Richey man and a Hudson woman die in separate incidents a little more than five hours apart.

By MALLORY SIMON and THOMAS LAKE
Published July 20, 2006

Two people were killed Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning while walking along U.S. 19 , a road recently dubbed the most dangerous in the country for pedestrians.

John McKenna, 63, of New Port Richey, and Marie Howarth, 42, of Hudson, were killed by cars in separate crashes, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

FHP spokesman Larry Coggins said in both accidents it appeared the pedestrians had walked into oncoming traffic.

Fifty-seven people have died on Pasco roads this year, Coggins said. Last year at this time, there were 44 deaths.

Around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, McKenna was crossing U.S. 19 near Trouble Creek Road when he crossed paths with a Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by 18-year-old Adam Sawyer.

Three witnesses told the Times they saw the red Eclipse racing with a white car just before the crash.

New Port Richey residents Alex Rogers, 19, and Kayleene Cook, 17, said they were about five cars behind the Eclipse when it struck McKenna. It appears Sawyer had swerved in an attempt to avoid him.

"As soon as you seen him," Cook said of McKenna, "you knew he was gone."

Investigators are checking the racing allegations, Coggins said. They are looking for the driver of a white Pontiac Bonneville or Chevrolet Lumina with a spoiler and tinted windows.

The Times could not reach Sawyer for comment on Wednesday.

Shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday, freelance cameraman Bryan Farrow was driving north in the right-hand land of U.S. 19 when he saw a woman on the shoulder.

He swerved and missed her but kept watching through his mirror.

Then he saw her dart into the road. Behind her were headlights. Thomas Giermek, 18, of Spring Hill, was in a 1997 Chevy Camaro.

"I see this car swerve all the way to the right," he said.

Farrow said he let the car pass him. Then he saw the woman lying in the middle of the road.

Giermek was not charged in the accident. A call to his listed address was not returned.

U.S. 19 led Pasco with 17 fatalities last year, the county reported, as many as Interstate 75 and State Road 52 combined.

Last summer, the TV newsmagazine Dateline analyzed five years of federal crash data and concluded that U.S. 19 is the nation's most dangerous highway for pedestrians.

Dark areas once hid pedestrians from drivers along the highway, which has few sidewalks.

Last year, the state Department of Transportation installed lights after Pasco County agreed to pick up part of the annual maintenance costs.

Farrow said the lights stopped him from hitting Howarth.

[Last modified July 20, 2006, 07:17:55]