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By DEBORAH O'NEIL
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 1, 2000
CLEARWATER -- Lois Taylor was reading the newspaper Thursday morning before her morning customers arrived at Great Grandpappy's barber shop when she heard a crash.
From the door of the shop on Gulf to Bay Boulevard, she saw a white-and-red propane truck flip and slide down the highway. Across the street at Church's Fried Chicken, employee Courtney Johnson was watching the same scene unfold.
"I'm like, "Dang!' " Johnson said. "It looked bad."
As it turns out, the 8:45 a.m. accident looked more serious than it was. No one was injured and none of the liquid propane in the truck's tank leaked. But as a precaution, Clearwater authorities shut down Gulf to Bay between Lake and Yelvington avenues for almost two hours.
The accident happened at Gulf to Bay Boulevard and Lake Avenue when a Volvo driven by Carolyn Grimm, 45, of 4515 Leona St. in Tampa was turning left to head south on Lake Street, said Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor.
Grimm turned into the path of a Suburban Propane truck driven by Thomas Heroux, 46, of 200 Starcrest Drive in Clearwater who was heading east on Gulf to Bay, police said.
Although Heroux swerved to try to avoid hitting the car, the two vehicles crashed. The truck flipped and slid 91 feet down the road, stopping on its passenger side in front of the Pinellas County Employee Federal Credit Union at 1601 Gulf to Bay Boulevard.
"It was rolling," Taylor said of the truck. "It was wicked-looking, I tell you, to look outside and see a propane truck sliding down the street toward you."
Discount Auto Parts employee Lee Shoup was smoking a cigarette in the doorway of the store when the accident happened.
Not only did the truck tumble over, he said: "The car, it came right up off the ground and spun around. It was scary."
Clearwater police cited Grimm for violating Heroux's right of way, Shelor said.
Clearwater deputy fire Chief Charlie Flowers said the weight of the propane made it difficult to lift the truck upright. So Suburban Propane sent a second truck to pump out some of the fuel before the accident scene could be cleared.