81-year-old faces DUI charge after workers hit

By Times staff
Published August 31, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY -- An 81-year-old Hudson man who police say careened through the downtown Thursday afternoon and struck and injured two construction workers, was arrested on a drunken driving charge.

Jack Carleton Nelms was headed east on Main Street in a 2004 Mercury Sable when he hit a vehicle near Bank Street, kept going and struck the two construction workers who had been working at a street manhole, said Assistant Chief Darryl Garman.

The car continued east, striking another car, before leaving the scene.

One of the injured men, 54-year-old San Isaias Eolanco De-LaRosa, was being treated for nonlife-threatening injuries, said Garman. The other worker suffered minor injuries.

The two men were working for a Tampa subcontractor on a city sewer project.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers stopped Nelms on U.S. 19 near Denton Avenue and charged him with driving under the influence.

Charges have yet to be filed in New Port Richey.

[Last modified August 31, 2007, 06:43:53]