Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Hillsborough briefs

Briefs and news of note.

By TIMES STAFF WRITER
Published September 1, 2006

Teen who fell off truck's hood dies

RIVERVIEW- An East Bay High student died Thursday, one day after deputies say he fell from the hood of a moving truck.

Kevin Robert Burr, 15, was sitting on the front of a 1993 Ford Ranger when driver Jesse Daniel Rooks, 17, applied the brakes and sent Burr falling to the pavement, said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

Burr was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, following the 3:30 p.m. accident at Hallmark Boulevard and Midpointe Drive, Carter said.

Deputies weren't alerted about the accident until Thursday, Carter said, after hospital officials said Burr's 1:30 p.m. death was the result of injuries he sustained in the traffic accident.

No charges have been filed in the incident. Officials were unable to say on Thursday how fast Rooks was going as he traveled east on Hallmark Boulevard with Burr on his hood. Carter said the investigation is ongoing.

Burr, a sophomore who lived at 12601 Midpoint Drive, was involved in East Bay's Jr. ROTC and agricultural programs, Hillsborough County schools spokesman Stephen Hegarty said.

School crisis counselors were scheduled to be at East Bay today to help students and the staff deal with Burr's death.

A man who answered the phone at Rooks' house and identified himself as Jessie Rooks' father declined to talk about the loss except to say the two teens knew each other from school.

Also present at the time of the accident was Nickolas Martinez, 16, of Gibsonton. Attempts to reach Burr's family or Martinez were unsuccessful Thursday night.

Double-slaying suspect deemed fit

TAMPA - Scott Schweickert, the Illinois man accused of helping to drug two Tampa men who were later raped and killed, has been found competent to stand trial by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Schweickert, 41, was sent to a North Carolina psychiatric hospital just days before his trial was set to begin in February.

Now doctors at that hospital, which is run by the Bureau of Prisons, say he's ready for trial. But at a hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court, Schweickert's attorney, Pedro Amador, said his client is still not competent.

"He doesn't understand what he's being charged with," Amador said. "He can't help me with his defense. He has no memory of these events he's being charged with."

Schweickert has also been scratching himself on his arms and chest, Amador added.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark A. Pizzo ordered an evaluation of Schweickert by a court-appointed psychiatrist. A hearing will then be scheduled to determine whether his trial should move forward.

Schweickert is charged with conspiracy and assisting in a drug-facilitated crime of violence against Michael Wachholtz and Jason Galehouse, both 26. The two men disappeared the same weekend in December 2003.

Schweickert's alleged accomplice, Steven Lorenzo, was sentenced to 200 years in prison.

[Last modified September 1, 2006, 05:47:33]