FORT PIERCE — A man in his early 20s was taken to a local provisional trauma center in critical condition after being hit Sunday night by a compact car, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said.

Crews were called to the incident at South 13th Street and Kentucky Avenue about 11:30 p.m., Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said.

The man was taken to a local provisional trauma center in critical condition, Chaney said.

No one else was injured in the incident.

A flight instructor injured in Friday’s plane crash was identified by federal officials Monday and has been released from a local hospital.

James K. Ross was treated at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute in Fort Pierce after the crash. His student, Avinash Kumar, remained Monday at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne.

A crash investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board identified the men Monday.

When the Piper Seneca crashed into a tree south of 12th Street near 34th Avenue in the Sun Villas subdivision, Ross and Kumar were conducting touch-and-go maneuvers, where the plane lands and then pulls up, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

This story will be updated with more information when it becomes available.

WPTV reporter Bryan Garner contributed to this report.

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A 32-year-old man swept into the channel while swimming in the Fort Pierce Inlet Tuesday afternoon was pronounced dead less than two hours later, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Lataurus Conley was boating near the Fort Pierce Inlet about 1 p.m. Tuesday and was swimming with friends in the inlet, DEP public information officer Amy Graham said in an e-mail. The outgoing tide swept Conley into the channel, and a fisherman helped in rescuing Conley. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A 2-year-old girl reportedly fell in a backyard pool Sunday and was in the water for up to two minutes before being rescued by her mother, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said Monday.

Crews were called about 5:25 p.m. to the incident in the 1000 block of Jamaica Avenue, Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said. The child was conscious and breathing when fire district personnel arrived.
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FORT PIERCE — A trauma surgeon and nurse on their way to work at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute on Saturday became first responders at an accident scene.

Dr. Alex Funicello, who was returning from a Hutchinson Island condo to finish rounds at Lawnwood, found the base of South Bridge blocked with police cars and accident tape.

Raymond Chew, 47, lay in the intersection of Seaway and Indian River drives, his motorcycle nearby and his helmet loose but still on. No emergency medical crews had arrived when Funicello arrived.

So, the trauma surgeon went to work, assessing the patient.
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INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A year after Sheriff’s Office employees got a $1,000 bonus in lieu of raises from retiring Sheriff Roy Raymond, current Sheriff Deryl Loar is expected to give at least some of them a bigger bonus, as much as $1,600 each.

It’s the product of an unusual situation, sheriff’s Comptroller Harry Hall said Monday. He said he expects to have $747,000 unspent at the end of the month.

Some of the savings, he said, came from budgeting $3.48 per gallon last fall for patrol cars’ gasoline and seeing prices drop to $1 less. And there haven’t been as many jail inmates hospitalized, he added.

“It’s like the planets all lined up,” Hall said. “It’s unrealistic to think this can continue (in future years).”
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FORT PIERCE — The driver of a school bus involved in a Monday morning crash at 25th Street and Orange Avenue was at fault in the incident that sent a woman and a student to a local hospital, according to the Fort Pierce police.

The St. Lucie County school bus, driven by Maria Rossi, 60, was eastbound on Orange Avenue about 6:45 a.m. as a 1998 Nissan Sentra driven by 55-year-old Claudiette Compere traveled west. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — Patients wanting to try out Martin Memorial’s freestanding emergency department in St. Lucie West should find their own ride.

St. Lucie County fire and rescue crews are bypassing the freestanding facility in favor of emergency departments at hospitals such as St. Lucie Medical Center and Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute.

“We’re evaluating what type of patients we will transport to that facility,” St. Lucie County Fire Chief Ron Parrish said. “We want to make sure the citizens of the community are going to get the best care in the most timely manner.”
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A former Jupiter Island Town Commissioner died Monday in Rhode Island in what police there are investigating as a possible suicide.

Finn Caspersen, 67, was found dead Monday at the Shelter Harbor Golf Club in Westerly, R.I. from what police believe is a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Westerly police Capt. Edward St. Clair.
Caspersen a philanthropist, was first elected as town commissioner in Jupiter Island in 2005. He resigned on Aug. 4. Caspersen also had a home in the Shelter Harbor Golf Club where he died.

“As a public servant, policy-maker and overall gentleman, Finn Caspersen exceeded every standard of good measure,” said Jupiter Island Mayor Charles Falcone. “Stoic and soft-spoken, he did a lot of listening during town meetings before carefully weighing in with insight and informed expertise.”

An assistant reached at Knickerbocker, LLC said the family did not want to comment. No funeral information was available.

Caspersen served as the chief executive officer for the Beneficial Corp., a major financial holding company, from 1976 to 1998. More recently he was serving as the chairman of Knickerbocker, a private management company that oversaw numerous trusts and foundations. Caspersen personally donated money to Harvard Law School in Massachusetts as well as the Morristown Memorial Hospital, and schools such as the Peddie School and the Drew University Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, all in New Jersey

Longtime friend Tom McNicholas described Caspersen as “approachable and genuine” and said: “Each time I would refer to him as Mr. Caspersen he would peer over his glasses, softly chuckle and say, ‘Call me Finn.’ He was a friend and always fair to everyone.”

As a town commissioner, Caspersen was pushed for a town referendum on whether to bury power lines on the island underground. He also got involved in Martin County’s contentious debate over real estate development, paying $17,000 out of his own pocket in 2006 to bankroll a phone survey of 500 Martin County residents about their views of population growth. He also created a political action committee, Keep Martin green, that ran advertisements opposing rapid growth in the county.

“Finn had strong convictions towards protecting our environment and he invested a lot of his own money and time to support local causes like Keep Martin Green which focused on smart growth and environmental protection,” McNicholas said.

This is the second longtime Jupiter Island official to die in recent months. Town Manager Joe Connolly, a friend of Caspersen, died of Lou Gehrig’s disease just days after Caspersen resigned from the town commission in August. Deputy Town Manager Gene Rauth said the town is considering a memorial to Caspersen.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

PORT CANAVERAL — Martha Jackson was watching a wedding video with her nephew when she heard the splash.

Soon after, the Nashville, Tenn., woman heard a man yelling.

“You could hear him hollering for help,” said Jackson, who was on the last night of a four-night cruise to the Bahamas.

Authorities have not released the name of the 34-year-old Philadelphia man who jumped from his sixth-deck suite aboard the Carnival Sensation late Wednesday. The man, who was on the cruise celebrating his wedding anniversary, was rescued 1 1/2 hours later by the Disney cruise ship Wonder off the coast of southern St. Lucie County. (more…)