Vehicle suspected in road rage burned

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 19, 2000

PORT RICHEY -- Sheriff's deputies are investigating an apparent Friday morning road rage incident where a Port Richey man's car was rammed repeatedly and the suspect's Explorer was found hours later burned.

According to a sheriff's report, two Port Richey men were riding around in a 1987 Acura Integra in the Jasmine Lakes subdivision at 2:35 a.m. Friday when a 1998 green Ford Explorer came up behind them and rammed the car. The driver of the Acura, John D'Elia, told deputies he sped up to get away, but was rammed again.

Upon being rammed again, D'Elia lost control of the car and spun around. The Explorer then rammed D'Elia's car head on, backed up and rammed it again. Then the Explorer left, with a man wearing a white shirt yelling "I'm going to kill you," from the window, the report said.

At 3:55 a.m., another deputy found the burned hulk of a Ford Explorer that had "extensive" front end damage. Deputies said the Explorer matched the description of the truck involved in the ramming, but the fire had made running a computer check on it difficult.

D'Elia and John Colella, who was riding in the car, were not injured.

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