Hit-run suspect turns self in

By Thomas Lake and Casey Cora, Times Staff Writers
Published March 4, 2008

MONDAY: Journalists follow Jermaine DeWhite Anderson outside Tampa Police Department headquarters as he surrenders in connection with the hit and run death of Marcelin Azor.
	[Chris Zuppa | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT Video Watch the accident SUNDAY: About 4 p.m. Sunday, Marcelin Azor's daily trip to the Floridian Grocery store turned fatal. Police say a pickup ran a red light and struck the 64-year-old Haitian immigrant. This video still shows the truck bearing down on Azor.

TAMPA - In the video, Marcelin Azor begins crossing Main Street in a motorized wheelchair three seconds before 3:55 p.m.

It is Sunday. He is 64 years old.

He crosses from left to right near the top of the frame. He has diabetes and bad knees and a heart condition. He is headed toward the Floridian Grocery, where he likes to buy cigarettes and smoked pork neck bones.

He moves south on Rome Avenue, along the edge of a crosswalk. He has the right of way. Traffic flows to his left. At exactly 3:55 p.m., a white Ford Mustang roars past. In the foreground a woman in plaid capri pants can be seen near the door of the convenience store where the surveillance camera is rolling.

Azor is a Haitian immigrant. He is well known at the Mary McLeod Bethune homes, where he has lived since 2004. People seem to like him. One fellow customer at the Floridian remembers the time she asked him to lend her 50 cents. He gave her a dollar and told her to keep the change.

Four seconds after 3:55, a tan-and-brown Ford pickup enters the frame, coming west on Main Street, coming fast. It is about to run the red light and zip through the intersection. Azor is about two-thirds of the way across the street. The truck looks like it will cross just behind him.

Six seconds after 3:55, a black pickup can be seen going south on Rome.

Seven seconds after 3:55, the tan-and-brown pickup's driver is swerving to avoid the black truck.

He is swerving to his left.

Police say the tan-and-brown pickup driver is Jermaine DeWhite Anderson, who is 28 and lives on Nebraska Avenue.

The video moves at four frames per second. In the third frame of 3:55 and seven seconds, Azor is only a couple of feet from safely reaching the curb. It is in this frame that the front of the Ford truck meets the side of his wheelchair.

In the frames after that, Azor and his wheelchair tumble across the asphalt. The woman in the capri pants kneels to touch him. A crowd gathers around him, though no one can do anything.

The pickup continues west on Main Street.

Anderson was scared, he later tells police. He knew his license was suspended. He knew he faced arrest for not paying child support.

But when he saw video of the crash on the news, he realized he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't come forward.

So he turned himself in Monday to face felony charges of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident with death.

"I'm sorry," he told reporters, his head hanging low as he walked toward a waiting police cruiser. "I'm so, so sorry."

Staff writer Jackie Ripley contributed to this report. Thomas Lake can be reached at tlake@sptimes.com or 813 226-3416.

[Last modified March 4, 2008, 01:16:05]