"Truck driver arrested two days after rig hit I-75 bridge"

WESLEY CHAPEL — The semitrailer truck driver who crashed into a bridge on Interstate 75 Monday and left the scene was arrested Wednesday afternoon, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

Troopers said Kenneth E. Cannon, 45, of Ruskin, was hauling a large backhoe north on I-75 when the piece of equipment struck the overhead span at Overpass Road at about noon Monday. The collision caused debris to fall onto the road, damaging two cars and creating a backup that stretched to State Road 56, the FHP said.

A passenger in the one of the vehicles suffered minor injuries and was hospitalized, the Highway Patrol said.

On Wednesday, investigators received an anonymous tip that led them to the backhoe Cannon delivered 30 minutes after the collision. Then they found Cannon at his job, Got Trucking, on U.S. 41 in Ruskin, troopers reported.

Cannon was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail on one count of leaving the scene of a crash with injury, three counts of leaving the scene of a crash with property damage and providing false information for a crash report. He was being held at the jail Wednesday night in lieu of $3,000 bail.

for more information please visit: http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/accidents/troopers-truck-driver-arrested-two-days-after-rig-hits-i-75-bridge/1154932

"Pedestrian struck, seriously injured on East Bay Drive"

LARGO — A pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and seriously injured Wednesday night on East Bay Drive, authorities said.

The accident occurred just after 10 p.m. near Lions Club Road, according to police officials. The pedestrian, who was not immediately identified, was taken to Bayfront Medical Center as a trauma alert patient, authorities said. Largo police are investigating.

For more information please visit: http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/accidents/pedestrian-struck-seriously-injured-on-east-bay-drive/1154959

"Motorcyclist Killed in Wreck Near Polk City"

POLK CITY | A Groveland man was killed early today when his motorcycle collided with a van that turned in front of him, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

Randall K. Neavin, 48, was riding his 2001 Harley-Davidson south on State Road 33 near Double Diamond Road in Polk City about 5:10 a.m. when the accident occurred, according to a Sheriff's Office release.

Roberto Quinnes, 64, also of Groveland, was driving a 2000 Mazda MPV minivan south on SR 33 ahead of Neavin, the release said, and when Quinnes realized he had missed his turn, pulled off the right shoulder and then tried to make a U-turn.

Neavin came around a curve, saw the minivan and tried to stop, but he hit the driver's side door, the release said. He was wearing a helmet but died at the scene.

Quinnes wasn't injured, the release said.

The investigation is ongoing.

For more information please visit: http://www.theledger.com/article/20110304/NEWS/110309861/1410?Title=Motorcyclist-Killed-in-Wreck-Near-Polk-City

"Auto insurance fraud crackdown in Miami-Dade"

When the owner of a West Miami-Dade medical clinic schemed to bill insurance companies for staged auto accidents, she did not know that an undercover witness was secretly recording her, authorities say.

“Bring me good stuff,” Elsa Terrero, of New Horizon Practice, told a cooperating witness, according to an arrest warrant released Wednesday. “I control all the clinics in this building … you will get paid.”

Terrero was one of 25 people — including three doctors — charged Wednesday in a crackdown on “personal injury protection” fraud in Miami-Dade that officials say costs insurances companies millions of dollars each year, and ultimately raises rates for consumers. Terrero’s scam cost insurance companies nearly $800,000, though the amount is likely much more, officials said.

“This is not a clinic. This is a fraud mill,” Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater said at a press conference Wednesday.

“Many people see the insurance fraud as a victimless crime. It is not,” said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

The ring was cracked by detectives from the state’s Department of Financial Services fraud division, and Miami-Dade prosecutors. PIP insurance pays for up to $10,000 in medical bills and lost wages, and Florida ranks as one of the top states in the country for staged auto accident fraud.

Terrero, 40, is charged with racketeering, grand theft, organized scheme to defraud and a slew of other felonies. The others face similar charges.

The undercover investigation began in November 2009 when a man named Martin Triana, secretly working with detectives, agreed to stage an auto accident at a red light in Liberty City, according to an arrest warrant.

Triana later went to the clinic, 7171 Coral Way, where he signed 25 blank therapy forms, which would later be submitted to insurance companies, and was later X-rayed by an unlicensed technician. Later visits resulted in no treatment, the warrant said.

The clinic later billed State Farm insurance for 40 therapy sessions. The clinic also billed the company for three visits with Dr. Gerald Amado, who never examined Triana; the doctor was arrested Wednesday.

Triana later recruited a man named Miguel Hernandez, who was actually an undercover detective using a fake identity. Hernandez played along in another bogus accident, the warrant said, and the result was that clinic billed Imperial Fire & Casualty Insurance Company for $20,225.24.

For more information please visit: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/02/2094346/auto-insurance-fraud-crackdown.html

"1 airlifted in wreck"

BIG PINE KEY: One person was airlifted to Miami and another taken to the hospital after a motorcycle and car crashed about 7 p.m. Wednesday on Big Pine Key, the Sheriff's Office said.

Two people were on the motorcycle, but it was unclear from reports whom was injured. The airlifted person was taken to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami and the other to Fishermen's Hospital in Marathon, reports say.

Traffic was delayed for about an hour, according to the Sheriff's Office.

The Florida Highway Patrol was investigating.

For more information please visit: http://keysnews.com/node/30225

"Hudson woman dies after being hit by truck on U.S. 19"

A Hudson woman was killed as she walked along U.S. Highway 19 on Tuesday evening, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

According to a report, about 7:48 p.m. Jaculine D. Wakefield, 39, was walking across the southbound lanes of U.S. 19 south of Sanderling Lane, crossing the path of a 2004 Dodge Ram PK.

The right front of truck struck her. She was taken to Bayonet Point Hospital, where she died, the patrol said.

The driver of the truck, Jerry B. Jordan, 64, of Dunedin was not injured.

The incident remains under investigation. Witnesses are asked to contact Cpl. D.L. Frye at (352) 797-5737.

For more information please visit: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41862011/ns/local_news-tampa_fl/

"Motorcycle, pickup strike different building along Jefferson Street"

BROOKSVILLE - Jessica Varner said she keeps the blinds down in her office because she got tired of seeing all the accidents taking place along West Jefferson Street.

The one that occurred Wednesday afternoon was only a few steps away from her desk, she said.

Shortly before 4 p.m., a white Dodge pickup truck smashed against the front portion of the office building at 303 W. Jefferson St., according to the Brooksville Police Department.

Varner, an administrative assistant at Combs Services Inc., said she heard a collision outside. As soon as she backed away from her desk, she heard a louder boom and felt the building shake.

"Everybody's OK," she said over the phone a half-hour after the crash. "There are some bumps and bruises."

Moments later, Stephen L. Miller, 55, of New Port Richey, crashed his motorcycle into a tire shop building at 1360 E. Jefferson St., said Brooksville Police Chief George Turner.

Miller was airlifted to a Tampa-area hospital.

"His injuries are very serious," Turner said.

Turner said a wrecker was called to the scene at Combs Service and a building inspector also would be summoned to review the damage.

The driver of the Dodge, who did not want to be identified, said she swerved off the road to avoid hitting a passing Mitsubishi SUV.

Police officers stayed for only a few minutes at the first accident before heading toward the other side of town to respond to the motorcycle wreck, Turner said.

Combs Service is an appliance repair shop located near the corner of South Bailey Avenue.

Varner said the truck didn't penetrate the wall, but "knocked it loose."

For more information please visit: http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2011/mar/02/021905/motorcycle-pickup-strike-different-buildings-along/

"Three cycling deaths in three weeks is three too many"

Three bicyclists have been killed during the past three weeks, all of them while pedaling on roads in our backyard.

Firefighter John Wilson was struck by an SUV in Jupiter on Feb. 7. He was 50 years old.

Two days later, cyclist Gary Zimmer was hit by a car while riding in a bike lane on the Jensen Beach Causeway. He was 67.

And last Friday morning, Nicholas Rybka, died after he was hit by an 83-year-old tour bus driver in Vero Beach. He was 21.

I wish I could say the deaths were an anomaly — but they are not. More people die on bikes in Florida than any other state in the country.

In 2009, 107 bicyclists died in traffic accidents in Florida, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's most recent data.

That's eight more deaths than California, which has double the population. Our state led the country in deaths in 2008, too,

"There's something seriously wrong in Florida," said John Goings, a Palm City resident and president of the Treasure Coast Cycling Association.

The main problem, he believes, is that motor-vehicle drivers aren't aware of the laws.

They don't know that state statutes require them to stay 3 feet away from cyclists when passing. They aren't aware that the law treats bicycles as vehicles that have a right to the road, too.

Goings logs about 150 miles a week on his bike. While he has never been hit by a car, he knows plenty of cyclists who have been.

John Mildenberger is among them. Road rash covered half of his face after a car struck him on the Stuart causeway in 2004.

"My bike was demolished under the car. Fortunately, I was launched over the hood," the 55-year-old told me. He was knocked unconscious, but avoided lasting injury.

Three years later, while biking in Port Salerno, he was hit again when a car turned into his path in the bike lane.

"My left hand took off their rear view mirror, and I went over the handlebars," said Mildenberger, a resident of Sewall's Point. He broke his collar bone that time.

And yet cyclists are demonized by some drivers.

"I've had people scream at me. The common one is, "Get off the road, get on the sidewalk!' " Mildenberger said.

A passerby once hurled a grapefruit at Goings' wife while she was on her bike. He's been given the "one finger salute" more than a few times himself.

Goings realizes it's difficult to enforce laws that protect cyclists, including the 3-foot rule. Unless police happen to witness a violation, it's difficult to prove.

Some cyclists have taken to wearing cameras on their helmets so they can document the most blatant of violations, Goings told me.

Mildenberger would like to see local law enforcement officers get more aggressive about enforcement. He would like more road signs urging drivers to watch for cyclists, too.

"Of course, we want all the bike lanes we can get — but we realize it costs money and takes time," said Mildenberger, who is a member of Martin County's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

Not all cycling accidents are the fault of motor vehicle drivers. About half are the result of cyclists violating basic rules of the road, according to the Florida Bicycle Association.

But the other half? Those of us behind the wheel have a responsibility to prevent them.

For more information please visit: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/feb/28/eve-samples-three-cycling-deaths-in-three-weeks/

Automobile collides with bus

An elderly man was killed Sunday morning in an automobile accident with a Greyhound bus in Citrus County.

The elderly man was driving his car at about 8:25a.m., traveling southeast on U.S. 98 near the

Sugarmill Woods area of Homosassa. At the intersection of U.S. 98 and Oak Park Boulevard,

the elderly man attempted to make a u turn, according to an accident report from Florida Highway Patrol.

The gentlemen driving a 1998 Ford Taurus, turned into the path of a 1998 MCI Greyhound bus driven by a 67-year-old male from Tallahassee.

The bus was traveling northwest on U.S. 98 in the outside lane. The front of the Greyhound t-boned the Ford Taurus. The bus continued a short distance on U.S. 98 pushing the Ford Taurus about 200 feet northwest of the area of impact.

The elderly gentlemen was air lifted to Tampa General Hospital, where he died from his injuries

a short time later.

Neither the bus driver nor the 13 passengers were reported injured in the automobile and bus accident

Damages were reported to be $5000 as total for the car and the bus.

Both drivers were reported to have been wearing seat belts. Tests for alcohol are pending for both drivers as the car and bus accident remains under investigation.

Update from Tallahasse: Legislative Session 2010 Week Four

Education was a major theme of this fourth week of session. In the first week details of Senate Bill 6 by Senator John Thrasher of Jacksonville were written in this space. This week the Florida Senate passed this bill, which will change the way in which public school teachers are evaluated and compensated. The legislation is based on the premise that the evaluation of a teacher’s effectiveness should be measured by the success of their students. Additionally, another education-related bill by Senator Thrasher, Senate Bill 4, passed the Senate. This legislation will raise the standards for math and science credits for high school students (phased in over the next few years). Also, Senator Don Gaetz of Niceville’s SJR 2 passed the Senate. If adopted by the House it will put on the next general ballot the option to amend the class size amendment and give school districts more flexibility in meeting the requirements of the amendment while maintaining its spirit.

Senator Mike Fasano of New Port Richey’s SJR 718 advanced one step closer to consideration by the full Senate this week. The proposed amendment to Florida’s Constitution will, if adopted by Florida’s electorate, will override the so-called “Recapture Rule” enacted into administrative code by former Governor Chiles and the Cabinet in 1995. The way it works now is that Save Our Homes caps the annual taxable value increase of real property at 3%, no matter what the assessed value may be. However, when the market value goes down (as most property values did during the economic downturn), the Recapture Rule allowed the assessed value to be limited to a 3% reduction (or the CPI) no matter if the actual value may have gone down 10 or 20 % or more. That is why, despite the constitutional amendment and the statutory rollback that took place a few years ago, most property owners saw little if any decrease in their property taxes. Without the Recapture Rule, they would have seen a large deduction in their taxes because the taxes would have been tied to the market value of their home, not the assessed value (which may be artificially inflated to keep the tax base high). Senator Fasano is hopeful that the House will share his passion to save property owners from the continually high rates of property taxation they are subjected to.

Senate Bill 1224 by Senator Andy Gardiner of Orlando, which previously passed the House as House Bill 689 by Representative Gary Aubuchon of Cape Coral, sends to the governor the so-called “Slip and Fall” bill. The legislation will require that if a person slips and falls on a substance that otherwise would not have belonged on the floor of a business, the victim of the fall will have to prove that the business had knowledge of the condition of the floor and did not take action to fix the problem. Once the governor receives the bill he will have 7 days to take action on it (sign or veto). If he receives a bill after the session ends he has 15 days to take action.

Each year the House and Senate rotate hosting the annual budget building process. This year the House is the host, thus that chamber sends its version of the bill over to the Senate for consideration first. Additionally, the House hosts the conference process to reconcile the two distinct and often very different visions for the state’s upcoming fiscal year. This week the Senate Ways & Means Committee voted on, and passed out, its version of the state budget. During week five the Senate will meet to vote on the budget and agree to meet with the House in conference. At that time conferees representing the two chambers will be announced and the fun will begin.

For more information please visit: http://tampabayinformer.com/Government/Politics/2010/04/01/Update-from-Tallahasse-Legislative-Session-2010-Week-Four.html

Lawmakers are rushing to pass several bills related to personal-injury lawsuits

TALLAHASSEE – Republicans in the Florida Senate just beat down Democratic Sen.Dan Gelber’s effort to take aim at Attorney General Bill McCollum for running to the court house over the federal health reform Congress passed this week.

Lawmakers are rushing to pass several bills related to personal-injury lawsuits and took up one which would put $50 million contingency-fee caps on the state Attorney General’s office when it hires outside lawyers.

But Gelber – himself a candidate for attorney general –offered an amendment to the bill Thursday intended to make the point that McCollum was also using an outside lawyer, who happens to be a former co-worker, to launch what Democrats have called a “frivolous” politically motivated federal lawsuit to throw out the health care reform.

Gelber called McCollum’s lawsuit “an ideological escapade” on the floor and tried to add language to the bill limiting the AG from hiring outside lawyers for pursuing a federal lawsuit challenging the health care reform.

Democrats blasted the move, and Republicans blasted back over the federal reform signed by President Obama this week.

“Every time we disagree with something the attorney general does, are we in this body going to take a stand and say ‘No you can’t do that thing … even if it protects the constitutional rights of those citizens,” the bill sponsor, Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine.

But Gelber said the attorney general had enough on his plate with pill mills, gang violence, child predators, and other criminals.

“The question we should ask right now is ‘Why is the attorney general spending all the resources of his office almost on a daily basis on this political frolic designed only to get headlines?” Gelber said.
The amendment failed, of course, to persuade any Republicans, and the bill (HB 437) passed 27-11 without Gelber’s amendment.

The contingency-fee bill is part of a deal between the House and Senate, trial lawyers and businesses to pass four different tort-related bills this session.

As part of the deal, trial lawyers get a weaker version of a bill re-instituting “parental waivers” than what the tourism industry wanted, and businesses get more protection from slip-and-fall lawsuits. The Senate quickly passed 32-5 the “slip-and-fall” bill (HB 689) making it harder to sue grocery stories or other businesses when someone gets hurt because there was something slick on the floor.

Both the slip-and-fall and contingency-fee bills had already cleared the House and were sent to Gov. Charlie Crist.

The Senate then went on to pass two bills that go the House.
One (SB 2060) raised the sovereign immunity caps for the state and local governments.
The other ( SB 2440) is the so-called “parental waiver” bill sought by Walt Disney and the tourism industry to let parents waive the right to sue for their children when they get hurt taking an “inherent risk” at theme parks, rock-climbing walls, horse-training academies and so forth.

For more information please visit: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2010/03/gelber-cant-stop-the-senates-tort-reform-choo-choo.html

A 41-year-old man who was thrown from his motorcycle in Collier County Thursday is now facing charges

Wesley Eversole, of Naples, is charged with driving without motorcycle registration, failure to exhibit a license, and careless driving.

State troopers say Eversole lost control of the motorcycle shortly before 3 a.m. near the intersection of Vanderbilt Beach Road and US-41.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the motorcycle hit a median, throwing Eversole onto the road and injuring his passenger, 22-year-old Brooke Seckler.

Both were taken to North Naples Hospital with minor injuries.

State troopers say they were not wearing helmets.

For more information please visit: http://www.abc-7.com/Global/story.asp?S=12200878

If you've been involved in a motorcycle accident please call our office 24/7 for a free case evaluation. 1-866-LAW-FRAN - for more information please visit www.lawfran.com