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Letter to the editor

Driver hits three cars in driveway

Police say the driver was speeding away from a traffic stop.

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published June 29, 2007

CLEARWATER - A convertible speeding away from a traffic stop swerved off the road and plowed into three parked cars early Thursday, police said.

The driver, Walter Johnson, 48, of Tampa, was thrown from the car during an impromptu demolition derby in Ruth Knight's driveway.

Johnson was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where he was in serious condition.

The events leading to the crash started to unfold around 3:47 a.m. when police received a call of a suspicious person driving through the neighborhood.

Officer Mark Beaudette pulled over a white Chevrolet Camaro at Sherman McVeigh Drive just south of Druid Road and just east of Missouri Avenue, according to police spokesman Wayne Shelor.

The driver, Johnson, didn't have a license on him and gave his brother's name instead of his own, Shelor said. After the crash, his brother reported the car stolen.

Police checked the name for arrest warrants and found there were none, but there was still something suspicious about Johnson, who lives on Davis Islands in Tampa, cruising around Clearwater so late at night, police said.

Johnson offered that he was visiting a sick friend, according to Shelor, but while Beaudette and another officer were still interviewing him, Johnson put the car in gear and fled.

He crashed about 10 blocks away, police said, after vaulting through the intersection of Druid Road and Highland Avenue and losing control at Druid and S Crest Avenue.

Officers did not chase Johnson, Shelor said, but Beaudette reported the fleeing motorist on the radio. Another officer caught sight of Johnson an instant before he crashed.

Johnson faced charges ranging from fleeing and eluding to driving with a suspended or revoked license, not to mention charges related to the crash.

Meanwhile, Knight, who has lived in the same simple white house for 44 years, said she felt violated.

The Camaro destroyed not only the red minivan that belonged to her adult son, Kirby, and the maroon jeep that her other son, David, drove, but also Knight's 1993 teal Jeep - the one she'd taken to Cincinnati and Georgia and New Orleans back when her husband was alive.

"I feel bereft, like I lost a child, " said Knight, a grandmother of four. "I really loved that car."

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4157.

[Last modified June 28, 2007, 22:35:52]