Child struck, killed by SUV at mobile home

By Times Staff Writer
Published February 10, 2008

LUTZ

A 7-year-old girl died Friday night after a sport utility vehicle hit her in the mobile home park where she lived with her parents, the Sheriff's Office said.

Tatum Johnson was playing in the dirt road on 1510 E 148th Ave. when a vehicle driven by Roland Rodriguez, 26, struck her at about 9:30 p.m., sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said. Rodriguez drove Tatum and her parents to University Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Callaway said.

The incident was still under investigation, but appeared to have been an accident, he said.

SEMINOLE

Big Lots store on Starkey Road robbed

A masked man robbed the Big Lots store at 7600 Starkey Road in Seminole Friday at about 9:30 p.m., escaping with an undisclosed amount of cash, the Pinellas Sheriff's Office said Saturday.

The robber, who carried a dark handgun, demanded the night's receipts from four employees and told them to lie on the floor as he fled out a back door.

No injuries were reported. Deputies described the robber as being in his late 20s, stocky build, wearing baggy clothes, a baseball cap and a green bandanna across his face.

Anyone with information on the robbery or the robber is asked to call the sheriff's robbery unit at (727) 582-6200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS to remain anonymous.

TAMPA

Plant City man killed in I-4 wreck 

A Plant City man died Saturday after the vehicle he was in flipped near the weigh station on Interstate 4, just west of Thonotosassa Road, officials said. The 2001 Ford Explorer he was in was traveling east on I-4 just after midnight when it swerved to the right as if it were going to exit the interstate at the weigh station. It began to flip on the weigh station access road, and both passengers were ejected, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

Billy Wayne Dean, 39, died at the scene, and Marlene Harper, 31, was taken to Tampa General Hospital with injuries that weren't life-threatening, the Florida Highway Patrol said. They both lived at 301 N Wilder Road in Plant City, the patrolsaid. It was not clear which person was driving, officials said.

[Last modified February 10, 2008, 00:18:01]