Driver in fatal crash charged

By BILL VARIAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000

INVERNESS -- Nearly 11 months after a head-on collision that killed a Citrus Springs Elementary School secretary and her daughter, the State Attorney's Office has filed driving-under-the-influence-manslaughter charges against the driver of the other vehicle.

Assistant State Attorney Willard Pope said Misty Lynn David, 24, of Dunnellon was not legally drunk from alcohol at the time of the Aug. 21, 1999, crash.

But the prosecutor said a mixture of prescription medication and alcohol caused David to be impaired when she allegedly crossed the center line in her Jeep sport-utility vehicle.

"You've probably seen those labels that come with some prescription medications that say do not drink alcohol," Pope said. "What she had in her system would have been more than enough to impair her faculties."

David's attorney, Stephen Toner, declined to specifically discuss the charges, which he was aware were pending. He said he had not confirmed that a warrant had been issued for David's arrest late Friday.

"We stand ready to deal with this matter," he said. "We are waiting to be advised that the warrant is active so that Ms. David can turn herself in."

Dixie Kimbrell, 52, and her daughter Kimberly, 13, were riding in a 1998 Saturn sedan when they collided head-on on with the Jeep driven by David. Both were killed. One of Dixie Kimbrell's other daughters, Alicia, then 19, was driving the Saturn and was rushed to Seven Rivers Community Hospital. She was later released.

The accident occurred about 2:15 a.m. Aug. 21 on County Road 488 and Diamond T Lane, about one mile east of U.S. 19.

Dixie Kimbrell, a longtime Citrus County resident, had been an executive secretary at Citrus Springs Elementary since the school opened. She also ran a catering business and served as a past president of the Crystal River Junior Women's Club.

Kimberly was born just a few months before her father died of cancer. Alicia Kimbrell and four of her high school girlfriends were featured in a St. Petersburg Times story in 1998 that followed the girls, best friends since middle school, through their last summer together in Crystal River.

David, a waitress and nail technician, had three passengers in her car at the time of the crash. None were injured.

Troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol took a blood sample from David a little more than two hours after the crash. It had an alcohol content of 0.011, Pope said, a very small amount that likely meant that she had less than one drink in her system.

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