Tampa unlicensed driver puts car into river

By JARED LEONE, Times Staff Writer
Published September 19, 2007

A lesson from Driving 101: Don't park your car in the river.

Alden Lewis, 24, who was driving with a learner's permit Tuesday, wound up in the Hillsborough River after weaving through traffic in his Nissan Sentra and striking a sport utility vehicle, police said.

The impact sent the SUV through a fence, stopping inches from an apartment building.

Lewis was cited with making an improper lane change and violating learner's permit restrictions, Tampa police Cpl. Jared Douds said. Florida law says learners can drive only if a licensed driver at least 21 years old is in the front seat. Neither of Lewis' teenage passengers had licenses. Lewis has had his permit less than two months, Douds said.

Lewis rear-ended a 1998 Mercedes-Benz SUV driven by Lisa Wilke, near Lee Place on Hillsborough Avenue about 9 a.m., police said. The SUV spun out of control, hopped a curb and stopped inches from crushing a satellite television dish and the Moon River Apartments.

The Sentra careened over the center median, past three lanes of traffic, plowed through a guardrail, and came to a stop in the river.

This is not Lewis' first run-in with police.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Lewis has been arrested 17 times since 1995.

Lewis spent nearly three years in jail since 2001. He was behind bars for nine months from February to November 2003, 10 months from July 2004 to May 2005, and 15 months from August 2005 to November 2006.

While the majority of the arrests were drug-related, Lewis ' most recent run-in with law enforcement was Aug. 14 for driving without a valid license, according to Hillsborough sheriff's records.

[Last modified September 19, 2007, 00:00:24]