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    Tampa Bay briefs

    By Times staff writers

    © St. Petersburg Times,
    published September 24, 2001


    Nine-month-old rape victim remains stable

    TAMPA -- A 9-month-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and left in the woods remained in stable condition Sunday at Tampa General Hospital.

    Randolph Standifer, 21, of 4255 W Humphrey St. in Tampa, has been charged with kidnapping, capital sexual battery and attempted first-degree murder. Detectives, directed to the woods by Standifer, heard a small cry and found the girl under a layer of leaves and branches Saturday.

    The girl, whose name is being withheld, was dehydrated and covered with insect bites. She had been there about 10 hours.

    Passenger killed when car hits utility pole

    TAMPA -- A Manatee County man was killed Saturday night and two others were injured after their car slammed into a utility pole and overturned north of the Manatee-Hillsborough county line, according to Florida Highway Patrol.

    Charles Rhodes, a 44-year-old passenger from Parrish, was killed. An FHP report said Rhodes was not wearing his seat belt.

    Driver Ivory Stokes, 45, and Lloyd Dozier, 56, both from Parrish, were taken to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. Both were in stable condition Sunday. The report said neither man was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

    FHP officers said Stokes was driving a 1997 Toyota north on U.S. 301 and had just passed Willow Road when he drove off the road. The car's right side hit the pole, and the vehicle overturned.

    The investigation continues.

    Girl shot in eye during drive-by

    RUSKIN -- A 17-year-old girl was shot in the eye during a drive-by shooting early Sunday.

    The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is not releasing the name of the girl because she is a juvenile, but a deputy said she is in stable condition at Tampa General Hospital after being hit in the left eye. The deputy said they think the bullet was fired from a handgun.

    "She is going to be fine," said Harold Winsett, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.

    Winsett said the girl and another unidentified person were walking south along Second Street at 2:45 a.m. A maroon four-door sedan with tinted windows pulled alongside them and a shot was fired that hit the girl.

    Winsett said the victim and the witness were unable to see the people in the car.

    Off-duty officer injured in shooting

    TAMPA -- An errant bullet narrowly missed an off-duty police officer driving on Sligh Avenue on Sunday morning, police said.

    Tampa Police officer B. Youngblood sustained minor cuts to her right forearm, caused by broken glass from a passenger window shattered by a bullet.

    The officer was driving east on Sligh Avenue in her personal vehicle just before 7 a.m. when several shots were fired from the parking lot of the Parkview apartments. One struck the passenger window and exited the driver's side of the car.

    Police think the shooting was the result of a drug deal that soured. The suspects fled the scene.

    "She wasn't the target of this," said Joe Durkin, a spokesman for Tampa police. "She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

    Man dies, another hurt in Howard Frankland crash

    ST. PETERSBURG -- One man was killed and another seriously injured early Sunday when the car they were riding in crashed into a disabled truck parked on the shoulder of the Howard Frankland Bridge.

    Florida Highway Patrol officials said Ray Edward Ireland, of 5144 33rd Terr. N in St. Petersburg, was driving west at a high rate of speed on the bridge about 3:30 a.m. when his 1994 Nissan hit a concrete barrier.

    Officials say Ireland, 26, with 23-year-old passenger Thorian Gensinger, continued driving but drifted off the road and slammed into the back of a disabled 1997 Dodge pickup parked in the emergency lane.

    Both men were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash. Ireland was killed. Gensinger, who listed an address in Marion County, was taken to Bayfront Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition Sunday afternoon.

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