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Driver kills 2, and then races off

A quick-thinking motorist gets the license number of the car that fled.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published December 29, 2006

An investigator examines the scene of a fatal hit-and-run on the westbound side of the Courtney Campbell Parkway Thursday night in Tampa.
	[Times photo: Ted McLaren]

TAMPA - A 3-year-old boy and a 42-year-old family friend died Thursday evening while trying to walk across the Courtney Campbell Parkway, struck by a driver who left them sprawled and bleeding on the pavement, according to Tampa police.

The accident occurred shortly before 7 p.m. along the busy causeway at Rocky Point, near the entrance to the Radisson Bay Harbor Hotel.

The vehicle that hit the pair, described as a tan SUV, continued west toward Pinellas County, where Clearwater police stopped it. Four people were taken into custody and were being questioned Thursday night.

The damage to the vehicle was consistent with the accident, said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy

Ronald Bishop Jr. of 907 15th Ave. NW in Largo died at the scene. The boy's name had not been released late Thursday.

As darkness fell, the bodies of the two victims lay on the road, covered by white sheets as Tampa police, moving in the glare of squad car lights, gathered information and evidence.

Traffic was stopped westbound along the causeway throughout the evening. A woman could be heard wailing in a nearby parking lot on the north side of the road.

McElroy said Bishop's truck had broken down, and he had parked at a nearby hotel at Rocky Point to wait for someone to come help him. He and the boy had crossed over the causeway to get something to eat.

As they walked back, they made it across four lanes of eastbound traffic and paused on a median island.

The driver of a PT Cruiser stopped to let them cross, even though the traffic light for that section of road is always green and there's no crosswalk, McElroy said.

The driver of the SUV in an adjacent lane kept going, and struck the pair, sending them flying. The driver paused as if to stop, then kept going, McElroy said.

The PT Cruiser driver sped up and followed the SUV, getting the license number, McElroy said. Unable to call 911 on the causeway, the Cruiser's driver called his mother, who reported what had happened.

Meanwhile, the occupants of a tree service truck blocked traffic and directed cars around the victims. A doctor who happened on the scene tried to give the victims CPR, then pronounced them dead.

If the driver had only stopped, he or she might not have been at fault, since the traffic signal was green and the PT Cruiser interfered with the view, McElroy said.

The identity of the driver of the SUV had not been released Thursday night.

Erin Degutis, 37, lives on the north side of the intersection and works on the south side.

She said traffic is always bad. When she first moved there in 2005, it seemed like a short walk to the beach on the south side, but people warned her not to try it, she said. "You always hear the background traffic," she said.

Times staff writer Casey Cora contributed to this report.

[Last modified December 29, 2006, 05:53:27]