Man [Fitsum Gebreegziabher] Killed When SUV Hits Him, Drags Him 8 1/2 Miles

WFTV.com ^ | 3-1-04 | Associated Press

[Renfield]

SPRINGFIELD, Va. -- A motorist who had gotten out of his car to check out a flat tire died when he was struck by an SUV and then dragged 8 1/2 miles, authorities said. Josuel Galdino, 25, of Lorton, was charged with manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and felony hit-and-run after calling police early Sunday to report a man's body was caught in his vehicle's front-end suspension.

Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Sophia Grinnan said the victim was Fitsum Gebreegziabher, 27, of Woodbridge, who had gotten out of his car after getting a flat on Interstate 95 southwest of Washington.

Galdino was traveling in a southbound lane near the Fairfax County Parkway when he hit Gebreegziabher, Grinnan said.

Galdino's lawyer, Daniel Lopez, said neither his client nor a passenger in the car realized they had hit someone.

"A passenger who was with him told me he didn't know there was a body on the car until they got back to the house and the body fell off," Lopez said.

Galdino, a domestic worker for an employee of the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, was held without bond pending an arraignment Monday.

"He was devastated," Lopez said of Galdino. "This was an accident in the pure sense of the word."

[Renfield]

What I want to know is: Where do you get a name like Fitsum Gebreegziabher??? (And don't say, "Woodbridge, VA".) I'm dying to know what his ethnic origin is. That's one weird name.

[EggsAckley]

Someone said yesterday that it's Ethiopian or something.

VERY strange name!

[GiveEmDubya]

Where do you get a name like Fitsum Gebreegziabher???

I must say, there's one ya don't hear every day.

[Renfield]

I live in the D.C. area, and it draws a lot of people with strange names. I get a big kick out of reading the local phone books. There's someone in Anne Arundel County named Lasoaphia Quxazs. I haven't figured that name out either.

[monkey]

Where do you get a name like Fitsum Gebreegziabher???

It sounds like a reject from Mad Magazine.

[billorites]

"Fitsum Gebreegziabher"

Gesundheit!

[stands2reason]

It almost sounds like they asked him his name while he was dying...

[billorites]

Gosh, post in haste and repent at leisure.

What a nasty crack for me to make fun of somebody's name. I'm ethnic as hell and feel terrible about my crass insensitivity.

But I'll get over it...

[billorites]

"Fitsum Gebreegziabher"

From the Charles Dickens novel by the same name!

Knew I'd seen it before.

[ThreePuttinDude]

"I get a big kick out of reading the local phone books"

I never thought I would hear that someone else reads the phone book. I read the local phone books when ever I travel. It's makes it easier to fall off to sleep at the end of the day.

[yooper]

What a drag.....

[yooper]

"It almost sounds like they asked him his name while he was dying..."

You owe me half a gin and tonic, as well as a keyboard.

Funniest line I've heard on this site in quite some time!

[CzarNicky]

So he was just minding his own business and an SUV came along and ran him over. Who the heck keeps letting these SUVs drive around alone?

[herewego]

Bet he ain't got the guts to do it again.

[mikrofon]

After he was born, his father was unsure what to name him -- when he finally had to decide, the old man said, "I dunno, we just wanna name that fits 'im..."

[MattAMiller]

It's the funniest name since Hans Hannible Huetter von Heutterhoffen.