Michael Trump

Terrible three crashes in one night in Holiday FL

December 8, 2014 at 11:33 pm (Drunk, life, Uncategorized) (12/9/2014, alt19, bayflight, crash, dui, Holiday, motorcycle crash, safety, towtruck tow truck driver, us 19, wife dies, wreck in holiday fl, wreck in pasco, wreck on us19, wrong way driving)

Last night was crazy! I believe it was the most traumatic experience I have witnessed in the short time that I have been on this planet. A series of three accidents that change many lives in just an instant.

Yesterday; I got a text from my mom, who lives a couple of miles away from me, asking if Sarah was working. I told her she was, and that I would let her know Mom was trying to get a hold of her. My mom was looking to get Sarah to pick up dinner for my Nana. I don’t know what my parents are doing that prevented them from picking up food, but who really cares, I was it was for my Nana. I took the kids to get food for dinner, and from there went to trade them with my wife at work for work (she worked first shift, I’m working second shift). Sarah was pissed I bought dinner because now she had to cook instead of getting fast food from where my Nana was getting her food. Well I wanted healthy food for dinner, so I told her I would be going to Winn Dixie to get grub.

At dinner time (around 7 when the night stock guy came in) I went over to Winn Dixie and got what I needed to fill my empty pit, some call a belly. As I pulled into my parking spot back at work I saw a multi-car accident in the south bound side of US 19. There was a guy in a button up shirt and slacks running from his car to the car that caused the horrific string of events about to unwind in front of us. The distance between his car and the other was over 150 feet, and two other smashed cars, (4 cars total) all in the southbound lanes. He was 150 feet plus past the light heading south the girl that caused all this was 5 feet or so from the light at the intersection of 19 and alt 19. Like it will ever matter but the alleged driver was Brittany Anello, she had a blood alcohol level of .177. She was trashed, and was trying to argue with people at the scene. She wasn’t taking any responsibility for her actions. Meanwhile EMTs showed up they carted off a pregnant lady that said she could no longer see out of one of her eyes. Someone else left right after and then people from the car that caused this were hauled off also (I believe) the scene was settling down and I went inside to eat. I cashed out Brie (our day bartender) out for the evening and did some laundry upstairs for the lounge.

When I got back downstairs and took my position by the front door; I heard a bang and thought the tow trucks were finally leaving. I wanted to see them off, so I stepped outside, and instead of seeing departing tow trucks, I see a motorcycle on its side and two people blocking traffic. They were not the riders of the bike; they were saving him from being run over by speeding motorists. A nurse looking person began to aid the cyclist Mark V. Berry. Mark was riding with his father for a Sunday evening ride. As they passed our entrance way off of 19; his front brake caliper locked up causing him to go over the handlebars much like what would happen on a normal bicycle, its just he was doing 60 miles an hour or so from what was being said right there. Everyone heard a pop sound then he went flying, Mark landed on his head and stop moving. I thought he was dead, right there in front of me. His father was by his side but the first responders (who were from the first accident) were pushing him back. Mr Berry tossed his helmet to the ground and broke down into tears as his son laid motionless in the middle lane on the most dangerous road in America. Sheriff and fire trucks blocked the northbound lane leaving the southbound lanes unattended and open. Even though there was still a car in the road from the first wreck. People heading north kept the firefighters and the sheriff’s distracted because they thought they had a right to pass the emergency vehicles because they were in a hurry. Mark still motionless had people trying their hardest to save him.

Denise Gajuss sat across the street at the first accident. She is the wife of one of the tow truck drivers. She sees there is a need for more help with the motorcyclist and she and her husband began to cross the empty 3 southbound lanes thought to be still blocked by the Sheriff. First lane safe, second lane safe, third lane, I hear a motor revving up, a crash, and see a cell phone flying straight up. The phones screen was on the glowing a dim blue display. My first thought was the mirror on the Toyota 4 Runner hit the tow truck driver’s phone and kept going. But wait, I don’t see the second person. Oh no, it wasn’t a mirror on phone, it was a person on speeding Toyota. Denise’s husband lost it right then and there. I can not blame him, I would have reacted much in the same way if I had saw my wife just two steps in front of me snatched away forever. First responders rushed to her side, but returned to the motorcyclist almost just as quickly as they left. Denise expired from the impact. She laid in the street covered with a white cloth for over an hour before being loaded into the corner’s van. Bay Flight showed up minutes after Mark wrecked his motorcycle. Before the chopper arrived he was moved to an ambulance where his body and nervous system came to life. We could hear him call out wildly in pain. The EMTs tried with all they had to help him. The tow truck driver was being consoled on the southbound side walk, when where I stood, his son arrived. Bystanders pointed in the direction of his father and a fireman started to guide him across 19, they almost passed the fire truck that shielded his mother’s lifeless body from his site. The son knew immediately why the firefighter stopped. He broke down and pushed pass the firefighter, he made his way to his father. Consoling turned to anger and a distraught son tried in vain to make it to the driver that had taken his mother from him way too early in life. Friends and others pushed him back to his father side where he remained, for as long as I witnessed the unfolding tragedy.

The investigation process took over. Drivers angrily argued their right to pass; and still, they were forced to turn back. That really turned my stomach to see how many people really did not care what had just happen to their fellow human. I am just glad that the people trying to help out numbered the crap bags on the road.

The saddest part of the story to me is that it’s true. It breaks my heart to remember, after everything was said and done; a firefighter had to hose down the road and wash away any and all remains of what happened last night. That poor lady was just washed away and no one who traveled 19 heading south last night will know she was there or what had happen just a short time before. May God bless the people she left behind.

Goodnight drive safe.

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