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Letter to the editor

For fatal hit-run, 3 years in prison

The driver apologizes to the family of a 12-year-old boy he ran over in St. Petersburg.

By JOSE CARDENAS, Times Staff Writer
Published October 6, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Todd Montgomery, 36, was with a friend. Both smelled of alcohol, a witness testified.

"It's not only that Todd is not a bad guy," argued attorney Patrick Doherty, citing his client's volunteer work. "The truth of the matter is Todd is affirmatively good."

But Assistant State Attorney Scott Rosenwasser noted Montgomery left the scene of the accident. He thinks Montgomery was drinking and driving that day.

"Would he have turned himself in, ever?" asked Rosenwasser. "He was found. And that's telling."

For leaving the scene of the accident that resulted in the death of 12-year-old David Pierce, Circuit Court Judge Pamela Campbell sentenced Montgomery, 36, to three years in prison and five years' probation.

She also gave him 1,200 hours of community service and revoked his licence for life.

"There's nothing I can't do that will take that night away," Campbell said to Montgomery's family and friends in the gallery.

Montgomery, in a blue blazer and gray slacks, hugged his father and mother before he was taken into custody.

"Mom, you going to be okay?" he asked.

On Aug. 23, 2006, Pierce celebrated his birthday with a pool party at the motel in south St. Petersburg where his family lived.

In the evening, his mother, Marie Ashford, dropped him off at a Wal-Mart so he could spend some of his gift money.

Montgomery, who worked in the information technology department of Hamilton Engineering and Survey in Tampa, spent the day of the accident at the Suncoast Resort in St. Petersburg, where he struck up a friendship with another man.

About 9:30 p.m., Pierce and Samantha Murray, now 17, were walking south on 34th Street S near 42nd Avenue. The two veered slightly into the street to avoid a blocked-off sidewalk.

Montgomery was driving a sports utility vehicle with his new friend in the passenger seat. His SUV hit Pierce and Murray, authorities said.

Murray was thrown to the side of the road. She survived her injuries. Pierce was dragged 180 feet.

On Friday, Doherty argued that the blocked-off sidewalk was an unfortunate circumstance that put Pierce and Murray in the path of Montgomery's car.

After Pierce's death, the Florida Department of Transportation began looking into the circumstances surrounding the blocked sidewalk. But the agency dropped the matter after learning that the street was not a state road and the subcontractor was not working on a state project, FDOT spokeswoman Kris Carson said.

Doherty said Montgomery did not remember the accident. The event was so traumatic, he argued, that Montgomery possibly developed dissociative amnesia.

Rosenwasser said it didn't matter that Montgomery never set out to kill anyone that day. "What bothers me about this case is the actions that he took" afterward, he said.

A few minutes after the accident, Montgomery and his new friend parked the SUV in the 1100 block of 34th Avenue N, Rosenwasser said.

The two walked a mile to the house of another man Montgomery's new friend knew.

That other man, Luis Ramos, testified Friday that his friend and Montgomery told him they had been in an accident but did not know what they hit.

The two smelled of alcohol, Ramos said.

The day after the accident, Montgomery returned to work, Rosenwasser said.

Co-worker Kerri Meadows testified that she overheard Montgomery say his car was wrecked because he got hit by a truck on Interstate 275.

Ramos and the friend Montgomery met at the resort told St. Petersburg police about the crime. Montgomery was arrested two days later when he went to the resort to look for his wallet.

Meadows said she was initially angry that the company allowed Montgomery to keep his job. But she changed her mind after she got to know him.

"There's no way that anything was done maliciously," Meadows testified. "That's not who he is."

Montgomery's mother and other family and friends described Montgomery's volunteer work, including installing computers for underprivileged children in Tampa and taking photos of sports events at local universities.

Montgomery also addressed the court.

"The most important thing I can do today is to begin to offer my apologies," he said to the victims' families. "I go to sleep knowing that you hurt. I wake up knowing that you hurt."

Pierce's relatives said they appreciated Montgomery's apology but were still angered by his actions following the accident.

Jose Cardenas can be reached at 727 445-4224 or jcardenas@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 5, 2007, 23:37:36]