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Search widens for driver who hit pregnant woman
By BRADY DENNIS
© St. Petersburg Times, DADE CITY -- A woman whose pregnancy was terminated after a hit-and-run accident remained in fair condition Tuesday night at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, but authorities still have made no arrests in the case. The incident happened Saturday evening as Jean Nicole Littell, six months pregnant, was pushing her 1-year-old daughter in a stroller in the Tommytown community when a pickup truck hit her from behind and sped away. In addition to the terminated pregnancy, Littell's right hip was crushed and her pelvis broken when she was struck. Her daughter, Zabreia, suffered a broken right leg and a scratch on her liver. She also was in fair condition Tuesday. Florida Highway Patrol officials still were investigating the incident Tuesday. FHP investigator Cpl. Scott Campbell first learned of a witness to the accident Tuesday morning in the newspaper -- three days after the accident. He didn't know that Arlettle Williams, 18, had been pushing her baby in a stroller right next to Littell along 21st Street. "No one told me there was another girl walking beside her," Campbell said to the St. Petersburg Times reporter who interviewed the witness. At least two newspapers and a television station knew about Williams' role as a witness before Campbell. Campbell was in search of Williams in hopes of identifying the driver of the 1988 Chevrolet pickup truck. Authorities arrested the owner of the truck, Luis Enrique Gomez, on unrelated charges Monday. He was charged with violating his probation on a driving under the influence conviction. But Gomez denied that he was driving his truck Saturday when it struck Littell. "Right now I don't have enough to charge," Campbell said. "I'm still desperately trying to find out who the driver is." Shirley Littell, Jean Nicole's mother, seems convinced Gomez was driving the truck. "If he didn't do it, he needs to say who did it," Littell said. "Why isn't he saying who was driving his truck? This is very important -- a very bad crime was committed here." Just how bad of a crime is yet to be determined. If investigators end up charging someone in the hit and run, it is unclear whether the person would face homicide charges because Littell was pregnant. "In order for there to be some kind of homicide charge or injury to a person, you have to have a person," said prosecutor Phil Van Allen of the State Attorney's Office. "For us to charge just about anything, you have to have a medical opinion that the child at the time of death was quick, (meaning) whether or not the fetus is able to exist on its own." Currently there is a bill working its way through Congress called the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act," introduced by South Carolina Rep. Lindsey Graham. The bill would make it a federal crime when someone, through a violent act, kills a fetus or unborn child. It would not matter whether the person had knowledge that the woman was pregnant or not. Shirley Littell said she is praying someone will pay for taking the granddaughter she will never know. "A person was killed," Littell said. "It's crazy. It really makes me mad." In the meantime, well-wishers have placed donation jars at local businesses along Lock Street in Dade City, as well as several gasoline stations on U.S. 301. They are hoping to gather money to help pay for a burial service for the girl, whom Shirley Littell would have been named Jamari Alexus Tanqvere Hicks.
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From today's Pasco Times |
