Digest

Pedestrian injured; driver kept going

By Times Staff Writer
Published August 27, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY

Holly Anne LaRossa's legal woes began at 2:05 a.m. Saturday, when police say a pedestrian bounced off her driver's side windshield and ended up in the hospital.

The pedestrian, who was not identified, was in the crosswalk outside Hot Shots at 6229 Grand Blvd. He was taken to Morton Plant North Bay Hospital with a broken nose and possibly a broken tailbone, according to police.

The 22-year-old LaRossa did not stop, police said, until an officer pulled her over on Madison Avenue. According to a New Port Richey Police Department report, this is what happened next:

LaRossa told police she had downed five drinks of Grey Goose Vodka and a Long Island Iced Tea within the past three hours.

A Breathalyzer test revealed LaRossa had a blood-alcohol level as high as 0.190, the report said. That's more than twice 0.08, the level at which a driver is presumed impaired under Florida law. She also performed field sobriety tests poorly, police said.

"I know I'm drunk," LaRossa told an officer, according to the report. "That's why I have to get home."

A search of LaRossa's silver 1999 Nissan Maxima turned up two glass pipes with a dark residue in the center console. The residue tested positive for marijuana, the report said. LaRossa said she had smoked the drug two hours before the accident, according to police.

A search of her purse turned up two small blue pills in a cigarette wrapper. It was Xanax, the report said, but it does not state if she had taken the drug or if she had a prescription.

She told the officer she didn't know she had hit someone, the report said, despite the damage to her windshield.

LaRossa, of 4936 Fleetwood Drive, was arrested on charges of DUI, causing personal injury, leaving the scene of a crash with injury, possession of a controlled substance and possession of paraphernalia.

She was released Saturday after posting $11,250 bail.

The pedestrian's condition was unknown Sunday.

Woman in hospital accused of drug use

A witness said she watched Sandra Wagman Arosomena empty an envelope of white powder onto a table in her room.

Then Arosomena used a straw to "snort" the powder up into her nose, the witness told police.

The witness was a nurse, according to a New Port Richey Police Department report, working at Community Hospital of New Port Richey.

Two nurses stopped the woman, the report said, but it does not indicate if Arosomena was a patient there. Arosomena told police the powder was crushed Oxycodone.

But police say it tested positive for cocaine.

Arosomena, 47, of 1864 Eagle Terrace Blvd., was arrested on a charge of possession of cocaine. She remained in the county jail on Sunday, held in lieu of $2,500 bail.

ZEPHYRHILLS

Disruption at airport lands man in jail

A man would not leave the area, according to police, not even after repeated warnings. He was walking around, disrupting things. He even waved an American flag in front of a moving vehicle, yelling at the driver.

Or rather, pilot. The problem, police say, is that vehicle was an airplane.

Donald Darby is accused of standing on a runway at Zephyrhills Municipal Airport and interfering with the safe landing of aircraft there.

Darby, 49, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of trespassing and remained in the Pasco County jail on Sunday, held in lieu of $150 bail.

It was Darby's fifth arrest this year, according to the jail records, on charges of aggravated assault, contempt of court, trespassing and disorderly conduct.

No one could be reached for comment Sunday at the airport or at Zephyrhills Police Department.

[Last modified August 26, 2007, 21:45:50]