By Will Greenlee

PORT ST. LUCIE — A teen boy found in his boxer shorts with “head trauma” and “road rash” was flown to a southern trauma center in critical condition Tuesday in an incident that detectives are investigating, according to police and rescue spokespersons.

Port St. Lucie policeabout 6:40 a.m. went to the 500 block of Southeast Crosspoint Drive after a caller to 911 indicated she’d seen a “black male wandering the streets,” said Officer Tom Nichols, police spokesman.

“When the police arrived on scene, they found a 14-year-old black male in his boxer shorts and he was wandering the streets,” Nichols said. “He did have some road rash, and a cut to his head and he had some head trauma.”

Nichols said the teen said he’d been hit by a car, but police said the injuries “are not the result of a traffic crash.”

The boy was flown to a southern trauma center in critical condition, said Catherine Chaney, St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman.

Nichols said detectives are investigating and released few details. He also did not release the boy’s name.

Asked whether he thought the injuries were the result of a crime, Nichols said, “At this time I can’t elaborate any further.”

Nichols said the teen lives in the general area and that his parents have been notified.

Al James, 53, said his wife was on her way to work about 6:30 a.m. and called police.

“It was still dark out, and she was scared that she almost hit the child and the child was — she couldn’t identify if it was a male or a female — but the child was completely naked walking in the rain in the middle of the road,” James said.

Although early reports indicated the boy was naked, Nichols said he was wearing boxer shorts when police arrived.

“I got dressed and I come down here to see if everything was OK, and by that time there was police officers everywhere,” James said. “The kids trot around out in the streets … because there’s no sidewalks in this area — but not being naked in the middle of rain coming down. There was something wrong.”

Chaney said 911 dispatchers got at least three to four phone calls about the child in the street, but no one stopped to help him.

“The patient could not give rescue crews a clear indication of what happened,” Chaney said.

By Elliott Jones

Two northbound Interstate 95 drivers ran into one of a motorist’s greatest fears Sunday night: a person lying in the road in the dark.

Both vehicles hit 16-year-old David Benitez, who had just been thrown into the highway’s northbound lanes when a Ford Expedition, in which he was a passenger, veered into the median and rolled over several times around 8:38 p.m. Sunday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Benitez, of Hialeah, died in the accident south of Indrio Road. A passenger who was riding with him, Donia Otano, 14, of Hollywood, also was thrown out, and she ended up under the Expedition in the median. She was hospitalized in critical condition at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach.
(more…)

Miguel Socarras

Maria Socarras

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A sheriff’s deputy crawled underneath a pickup Saturday to find more than two kilograms of cocaine, he said.

“I came out of there with more grease on me than a mechanic,” Deputy Christian Mathisen said about his search under the Ford F-150 Saturday. The cocaine was inside the spare tire’s rim, he said.

Mathisen said he and Indian River County Sheriff’s Sgt. Pat White were in the first hour of a drug interdiction on Interstate 95 when he stopped the speeding northbound pickup about 3:30 p.m. at mile marker 151. The travelers, Miguel Ramirez-Socarras and Maria Socarras, both 40 and from Jacksonville, said they were coming from Miami, but gave conflicting information about how long they had been in the city, Mathisen said.
(more…)

By Will Greenlee

A man who drove the wrong way on U.S. 1 in June and slammed into a pickup truck in a crash that killed him and the teen pickup driver, had a blood-alcohol content greater than three times the legal limit, according to a report obtained Wednesday.

David Whelan, 58, of Palm Beach Shores in Palm Beach County, was driving a 2003 Chevrolet south in the northbound lanes about 9:25 p.m. June 23 when he crashed into a northbound pickup driven by Jessica Smith, a 16-year-old cheerleader at South Fork High School.

The vehicles collided head-on and both drivers died.

Whelan had been arrested more than 40 times since 1994 in Florida on charges including DUI, battery, disorderly intoxication, larceny, shoplifting, disorderly conduct, loitering or prowling, cocaine possession, robbery, trespassing, failure to appear and aggravated assault, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records.
(more…)

INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Two people were injured Saturday morning in a single-vehicle accident near Indiantown.

The accident occurred around 6:46 a.m. on Kanner Highway, one mile west of Indiantown, according to a press release from Martin County Fire Rescue spokesman Doug Killane.

According to the release, the vehicle left the road and crashed through a fence, hitting a tree.

One of the occupants was transported by MCFR Lifestar air ambulance to Lawnwood Trauma Center. The second patient was transported by ambulance to Martin Memorial South Hospital. Their conditions have not been released.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Post columnist Sally Swartz writes that Keith Kopp and his neighbors have been fighting with Martin County officials over problems with the Green River Parkway for a decade. They’ve chalked up an impressive list of victories, she notes,to make the road less harmful to the environment.

Sally Swartz

They badgered officials to keep promises to follow original plans to erect a wall that is an effective visual and sound barrier, to build it without gaps that pets or toddlers could crawl under and to keep it a reasonable distance from property lines.

Now, Sally continues, Mr. Kopp wants the county to abide by the 35 mph speed limit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ordered in its permit and Martin County commissioners approved.

But the county staff set the speed limit at 40 mph, which Mr. Kopp says is bad for animals trying to cross the road. Sally notes that he sent Martin County commissioners a photo of a dead raccoon, an example of the wildlife roadkill victims he often sees along the parkway.

You can read Sally’s full column here.

Sonja Isger

One lane reopens on southbound I-95 after a car fire in Fort Pierce at Indrio Road.

Fire crews were dispatched to the scene at 5:40 a.m., according to the Florida Highway Patrol. All southbound lanes are blocked.

By Will Greenlee

A Thursday morning crash involving a Martin County Sheriff’s Office marked vehicle and a pedestrian left one person with serious injuries, officials said.

Martin County Fire Rescue officials at 6:06 a.m. went to the incident near Southwest Allapattah Road and Southwest Morgan Street, said Doug Killane, fire rescue spokesman.

Martin County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dale Howard was traveling south on Southwest Allapattah Road in his marked Ford Crown Victoria, the sheriff’s office stated. The crash happened about one half mile north of Southwest Morgan Street.

One person was being flown to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce in serious condition, Killane said.

Howard was on his way to the Indiantown substation to report for his shift, said Rhonda Irons, sheriff’s spokeswoman.

Howard, who joined the sheriff’s office in 1995, wasn’t injured.

This story will be updated when more information is available.

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — One man was injured when a refrigerator tanker truck exploded and caught fire at 5:20 a.m. Monday at a truck stop west of Vero Beach.

Indian River County Fire Rescue workers were at the scene at the Travel Center at the intersection of 90th Avenue and State Road 60 near the Interstate 95 interchange.

The story will be updated when more information is released.

By Elliott Jones

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A 16-year-old motorcyclist was killed 3:45 a.m. Tuesday on Oslo Road when the dirt bike he was riding, without lights on, ran a flashing red light on Oslo Road and was hit by a car, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Killed was Austin Erlanger, of Vero Beach.

The dirt bike was going north on 58th Avenue when it was hit by a westbound Nissan sedan at the intersection of Oslo Road and 58th Avenue. The sedan driver wasn’t hurt.

The case remains under investigation.

Posted July 5, 2011 at 4:55 a.m., updated July 5, 2011 at 8:29 p.m.