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A half-year later, DUI charges

By SHEELA RAMAN
Published February 1, 2007

PALM HARBOR - Joseph W. Torina was having a Saturday night out with his buddies last June.

They started drinking at his house, according to Florida Highway Patrol investigators. Then they went to the Thirsty Marlin in Palm Harbor for food and more drinks. Then the Chic-a-Boom Room in Dunedin and after that an Irish pub.

Then, as he drove a Pontiac Grand Am with his two friends inside, he ran a stop sign and crashed into a GMC Yukon in Palm Harbor, killing one of its passengers, 26-year-old Raymond Johns, according to authorities.

More than six months after the crash, Torina, 25, has been arrested on one count of DUI manslaughter and two counts of DUI resulting in serious bodily injury.

Highway patrol investigators learned in December that his blood-alcohol content during the June 10 crash was 0.174 percent, more than double the 0.08 percent threshold at which Florida law presumes a driver to be impaired, said Trooper Larry Coggins, FHP spokesman.

It normally takes a few months for a toxicology report to come back, he said. As soon as it did, the Highway Patrol requested a warrant for Torina's arrest with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

According to a sworn statement from Highway Patrol Cpl. Toni M. Shields, who investigated the case, Torina was also traveling above the 35-mph speed limit at the time of the crash.

Torina was released on $110,000 bail after his Jan. 26 arrest. He could not be reached for comment at his home, 1231 Illinois Ave. in Palm Harbor.

On the night of the accident, Torina was heading north on 12th Street in Palm Harbor. The Yukon, which contained Johns, as well as Kristopher Katzer and Chase Merritt, was traveling east on Nebraska Avenue, Coggins said. Torina ran the stop sign at Nebraska Avenue and hit the Yukon, then kept going past the Yukon into a fence, before the car came to rest.

Katzer and Johns were thrown from the Yukon, which overturned. Katzer had a broken neck, two head gashes that required him to have a blood transfusion, eight broken ribs and a collapsed lung, according to Shields' sworn statement. Merritt had a broken collarbone, as well as nerve damage to his shoulder.

Merritt and Katzer told investigators they had been out on the town with Johns that night. They said they had been at a wing house, the Liquor Lounge, and Eddie's, drinking and eating.

Johns, known as "AJ," was a lifelong resident of Tarpon Springs and a 1998 graduate of Tarpon Springs High School who enjoyed scuba diving, sky diving and hunting. He worked as an administrative assistant for Heavenly Air Conditioning of Tarpon Springs, but he had completed a firefighter and EMT certification program.

Brandon Tanner and Stephanie Fulton, the passengers in the Grand Am, also suffered serious injuries in the crash. All survivors have been released from the hospital.

[Last modified February 1, 2007, 00:14:22]