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By Times staff and wire reports
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 30, 2001
Authorities look for truck that hit woman and child
DADE CITY -- Investigators are looking for a gray and red Chevrolet pickup that may have hit a 20-year-old mother who was walking along the road pushing a carriage with her 14-month-old child.
Jean Nicole Littell was walking on 21st Street near Jeanie Lane at 6:50 p.m. Saturday when the pickup struck her from behind and did not stop. Littell, of 15229 Davis Loop in Dade City, was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa and was listed in fair condition Sunday night. Her daughter, Zabreia, was treated and released.
There may be a silver tool box in the bed of the truck, which is possibly an older model with tinted windows and damage to its hood and right front end. Anyone with information is asked to call the Florida Highway Patrol at (800) 500-1240 or (727) 841-4181, ext. 134.
WESTFIELD, Mass. -- A Florida woman was in serious condition Sunday after the small plane in which she was a passenger crashed into a building and exploded into flames, hospital officials said.
Susan Hutchinson, 42, of Sanford was a passenger in the single-engine Piper Malibu that slammed into a building near Barnes Municipal Airport on Saturday afternoon as it came in for a landing, officials said.
The 55-year-old pilot, Dr. Munir Abbasy of Longmeadow, Mass., was in the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, Conn., where his condition was described as "life threatening," nursing supervisor Ellen Williams-Hussey said.
Hutchinson and the other passenger, Anne Abbasy, 42, the pilot's wife, were in serious condition in the intensive care unit of Baystate Medical Hospital in Springfield.
The plane was flying from Nantucket, Mass., to Westfield and had filed a flight plan, according to authorities. The pilot did not report any problems before making a final approach.
The plane reportedly veered to the left as it approached the runway, crashed into a commercial building adjacent to the airport and exploded, an official said.
The building that was hit is owned by the HFP Corp., a company that produces fire sprinkler heads.
Authorities said the plane slid off the roof and into the company's parking lot, which was empty.
The plane's front end was badly burned, and the building's facade torn off in the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.
PORT RICHEY -- An 86-year old New Port Richey man died from injuries he received in a Saturday car crash near Gulf View Square mall, the Florida Highway Patrol reported Sunday.
Homer Milton Jones, 7542 Betula Drive, died at 5:52 p.m. at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. Jones was flown there with his wife, Martha, 87, after the collision at Holiday Hills Boulevard and U.S. 19 at 2:25 p.m.
According to a report, Homer Jones was driving east on Holiday Hills when, witnesses said, he drove through a red light and into the path of a 2000 Mazda driven by 18-year-old James Franklin Morris, 5908 Tern Drive, New Port Richey.
Morris was not wearing a seat belt, but his two passengers -- Daniel Racine, 6013 Adams St., and Domenick Aguhart, 7526 Coventry Drive, both 11 from Port Richey -- were. The three of them were taken to local hospitals, where their conditions were unavailable Sunday afternoon.
Martha Jones was in the intensive care unit at Bayfront Hospital on Sunday night.
A tropical wave on a possible path toward Florida brought thunderstorms and 40-mph wind gusts to the eastern Caribbean Sunday.
If the tropical wave continues on its west-northwest track, it could be a "weather maker" for Florida by the middle of the week, said James Franklin, hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The tropical wave, which was moving 15 to 20 mph, has the potential to continue developing, but "it has a long way to go before it can be a tropical depression," Franklin said.
Many tropical waves, like this one, begin off the coast of Africa. Relatively few develop into a tropical depression or a tropical storm.