Southpinellas: Driver plows into three troopers at cycle fatality

ST. PETERSBURG - As they shifted through the carnage of a fatal motorcycle accident on I-275 near 38th Avenue N Saturday night, three Florida Highway Patrol officers became victims themselves.

The Highway Patrol says a drunken driver - despite flashing emergency lights, road flares and traffic cones - plowed into them, sending them to Bayfront Medical Center where they remained Sunday night in stable condition.

Lt. Bruce Doras, of the Florida Highway Patrol said four patrolmen were injured, but a patrol report said three - Gregory S. Taylor, Rhonda S. Hendee and auxiliary trooper Eugene R. Lebrenz - were hospitalized. Two received broken bones, one a back injury and one muscle strains.

According to the Highway Patrol, the trouble began when Ryan J. Sneddon, 24, of 8648-91st Terrace N in Seminole, was killed about 8 p.m. Saturday when he lost control of his 2006 Honda motorcycle as he tried to gain access to southbound I-275 from 54th Avenue N.

Trying to change lanes at a high rate of speed, Sneddon hit a guardrail and was thrown into the interstate's inside lane. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the FHP report said.

Three hours later, Taylor, Hendee, Lebrenz and other law enforcement still were investigating at the scene of the accident when Robert Michael Taylor, 19, approached in a Honda Civic, heading south on I-275.

The scene was marked with flares, traffic cones, a lighted arrow board and police patrol vehicles with emergency lights, closing the inside and inside center lanes of southbound I-275.

As Taylor neared the area, he tried to avoid slower traffic in the outside center lane by swerving left. He lost control and hit the rear right corner of the one of the police vehicles. The impact pushed the police vehicle into a second police car.

Still out of control, Taylor, of 2295 43rd St. N, St. Petersburg, kept spinning counterclockwise, slamming into Taylor, Hendee, and Lebrenz. All three, along with a driver of one of the patrol vehicles, were taken to Bayfront Medical Center.

Taylor, not seriously hurt, was taken to Bayfront, where his blood alcohol level was recorded at 0.176. The legal level is 0.08.

Taylor is charged with three counts of driving under the influence resulting in serious bodily injury, and two counts of driving under the influence with property damage. He was released on a $31,000 bond from the Pinellas County Jail early Sunday. He did not return phone calls to his home.

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by Taylor	05/28/07 04:13 PM
I am Ryans little sister and i want to make it very clear that my brother was NOT under the influence when he crashed. My familys thoughts and prayers are with my brother, the officers that were hurt that terrible night and their families.

by by lola	05/25/07 04:18 PM
Why did the motorcyclist Ryan lose control? was he under the influence? It was a very tragic accident. I feel sorrow the families of all involved.May God bless you all-

by LMA	05/22/07 04:39 PM
Again, according to EMS that was on scene of the motorcycle accident he is lucky that no-one was in his way and got killed due to his lack of judgement with doing over 140 miles per hour - like a family riding in a car with kids.

by LMA	05/22/07 04:31 PM
My husband is a St Pete firefighter and was on scene for both the motorcycle accident and then an hour later for the troopers. Alls I can say is that the police and firefighters are always at risk while standing out at a scene from idiots like this.

by AS	05/21/07 10:16 PM
I was headed south on I-275 after 9pm. I saw a Camry pulled to the left then tropper cars, police cars, well lit signs (2) with arrows pointing to the right, motorcycle, yellow sheet, another cycle to the right. I prayed. Where was the Paramedics?

by James3rd	05/21/07 09:57 PM
All these people making excuces for the drunk are IDIOTS! There is no excuse! You should be in control of your car or truck at all times being abel to stop/avoid all opsticals at all times, no excuces!It is to easy to get a D.L. make it harder to get

by jason	05/21/07 08:19 PM
now his family most of which live out of state are left to try and make sense of this. They don't even have the money to bury Ryan. Was it sad that troopers were hurt, yes but they lived. The real sad truth is we allow manufactures to sell deathtraps

by jason	05/21/07 08:11 PM
My nephew was the kid killed in the bike accident and because three troopers were injured, the fact that a young life was snuffed out abruptly gets swept under the rug. Was he traveling too fast? Seems so,but does it make his death less tragic?

by jason	05/21/07 07:28 PM
Re: Ryan 11:32am- Floridians' bad driving? I've driven in NC, sorry bubba, no room to talk. I was stuck in the traffic backup and the scene was well marked. Another arrogant, impatient driver. Hate to see his new insurance bill!

by Allison	05/21/07 07:08 PM
Those that say the troopers took to much time investigating the accident have no clue what needs to be done by officers, rescue prsnnl.,crime scene techs,etc.,to investigate a fatality. U dont get there & say he hit here, landed here. Yup we're done.

by Jacki	05/21/07 07:04 PM
We came onto to 275 just before the sight of the accident and there was plenty of warning that something was going on, flares, big giant blinking road signs, cops with lights. A wide perimiter was set up. No sympathy for the drunk driver.

by Ashley	05/21/07 06:39 PM
If you know it is a bad area slow down beforehand. Speed limits are for the best conditions and night time doesn't qualify. As for blood alcohol if you hit 2.0 you can die from alcohol poisoning. He should take responsibility for his actions. I'm 18

by MLG	05/21/07 06:24 PM
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! Excuses for a kid who got so drunk that he could have killed someone? Investigations cannot be shortened (been there) and you are supposed to be able to stop even if the person in front of you slams on their brakes!

by Jaime	05/21/07 05:25 PM
So many people keep saying Poor traffic control and complainging about cleaning up a traffic accident taking so long, just freakin relax. Idiot drivers have multiplied rediculously in last 5 years. Slow down! Be patient! AND just relax! Someone died.

by cindy	05/21/07 05:05 PM
Why was he able to be bonded out?

by Kay	05/21/07 04:15 PM
Lee may have a point. Anyone that knows that stretch of 275 knows there is a hill there and if there was no warning to oncoming traffic ahead of the hill then yes poor t-control did contribute.

by Bill	05/21/07 02:00 PM
Way does it take three hours to investigate a single vechile accident.

by Gilbert	05/21/07 12:53 PM
My sympathy goes out to the motorcycle victim and his family. My prayers go out to the troopers. Now, as for the drunk driver at a young age he needs JAIL! Every acc that I've seen has had adequate lighting and markers, this may be one those times.

by James	05/21/07 12:37 PM
Lee: you say poor traffic control but the accident happened 3 hours after the 1st investigation started. In those 3 hours how many "other" accidents happened due to "poor traffic control"? Alcohol and wreckless driving was totally the blame.

by lynn	05/21/07 12:36 PM
I came along about 15-20 min after the 8pm accident and at that time, officers had cones and signs up moving traffic to the right lanes...speed,impatience,age and drunkenness led to the officers getting hit...not POOR TRAFFIC CONTROL!!

by Brant	05/21/07 11:40 AM
It's misleading to report that the legal level is 0.08. This suggests that you can legally have a blood alcohol level of up to 0.08 % and avoid prosecution. To be clear, 0.08 is the threshold at which one is legally PRESUMED to be impaired.

by Ryan	05/21/07 11:32 AM
I live in NC...and based on how Floridians drive here, alcohol probably did'nt make a difference. Chances are, our drunk driver was just trying to avoid a rubbernecker (the #1 cause of multiple accidents) who was travelling at an unsafe speed.

by Rich	05/21/07 11:17 AM
The first verb in the story should presumably be 'sifted,' not 'shifted.'

by Bob	05/21/07 10:44 AM
For once, we have a traffic accident and it wasn't caused by an unlicensed, unroadtested illegal alien driving an unregistered car, who never drove a car before coming to this country.

by JB	05/21/07 10:10 AM
In my opinion, they take too long to clear an accident site. I understand investigations but three hours for a motorcycle crash. They should have been through and gone before that guy came along.

by GB	05/21/07 10:08 AM
Under age drunk driver, who gave Michael Taylor the alcohol? Let's make them accountable too. Under age drunk drivers should have to go through some serious rehab & lose their license forever. Thankfully he didn't kill anyone, best to the officers.

by Ntox	05/21/07 10:03 AM
how about the fact that the kid killed was 24, and the drunk kid that hit the cops was 19. our future looks bleak.

by mike	05/21/07 09:53 AM
take his licence away for good he is an idiot.

by Jerry	05/21/07 09:45 AM
If it was poor traffic control, how come all the other traffic was slowed down? Just another drunk driver. Too bad he wasn't smoking a cigarette or they would have thrown the book at him.

by Rob G	05/21/07 09:35 AM
How about this kid was also underage as well? This definately deserves jail time -- No excuse... Drive drunk, you pay the price.

by Steve	05/21/07 09:29 AM
"The scene was marked with flares, traffic cones, a lighted arrow board and police patrol vehicles with emergency lights, closing the inside and inside center lanes of southbound I-275". How in the world do you not see all that??? Lights, cones, how?

by Tom	05/21/07 09:21 AM
aAnytime you stay at the scene for three hours on a major highway you are asking for trouble.Drunk or not some drivers need adequate notice of trouble ahead.But since he was drunk that notice may not even have been enough.

by Greg	05/21/07 09:15 AM
Lee is right, I was returning from Derby Lane around 11 or so, I am not sure if the second accident had taken place yet, but I along with others had to jam on brakes. No excuse for the drunk idiot, give him 6 months.

by Cheryl	05/21/07 08:54 AM
I don't blame law enforcement. Blame should be laid squarely on TWO drunk drivers, speed, aggressive driving and not paying attention to warning signs and what's going on up the road.

by Jim	05/21/07 08:40 AM
There is no excuse for driving drunk, and our thoughts and prayers to the officers. Suggestion: Shorten investigations, reduce # of emergency vehicles, and direct officers to open traffic flow at controlled speeds immediately.