Man killed in crash after pal's wedding

He was riding with three friends when the car overturned.

By JOHN FRANK, Times Staff Writer
Published August 6, 2007

WEEKI WACHEE - A day of celebration ended in tragedy when a driver lost control of his car on Shoal Line Boulevard, striking several trees and killing a passenger early Sunday morning.

Steven Reis, 27, of Spring Hill and three friends were traveling north on the narrow coastal road at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

As Reis, the driver, approached a curve before Porpoise Street, he lost control and swerved across the southbound lane. He overcorrected and drove off the northbound shoulder, reports state. The 2004 Honda Accord then overturned as it hit several trees; the car came to rest on its roof.

Passenger Dino Cerrone, a 26-year-old Central High School graduate, died in the wreck.

Reis and passengers Ferrell Jon Alvarez, 27, and Kevin Patrick Olds, 26, received minor injuries.

Cerrone, 26, lived in Land O'Lakes but returned home to Spring Hill for a friend's wedding Saturday, said his sister Felicia Leo. Later that night, he went out with his friends in the Hernando Beach area. The Highway Patrol told the Cerrone family that it was looking into whether alcohol was a factor in the crash, she said.

The Highway Patrol is still investigating.

Leo said her brother managed a clothing store but he recently told family members that he hoped to go back to school so he could "do something else to better himself."

Cerrone was a car enthusiast. His sister said he drove a black Cadillac and got a new car every couple of years.

He also liked to work out and cook. His favorite meal was pasta fagioli, which his mother made for him every year on his birthday.

"He was very good-hearted," she said, "and really caring about his friends."

Leo, 30, can't stop thinking about him as an uncle to her children, ages 2 and 3.

"I just remember him coming to my house and playing with my kids," she said, sobbing.

"They loved him. ... He will very much be missed."

John Frank can be reached at jfrank@sptimes.com or 754-6114.

[Last modified August 5, 2007, 21:12:05]