A drunk who kills innocent people. Look at those eyes. He looks drunk at the time. And what's going on with those ears?
Posted on 12/17/2022 8:22:03 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
CLEARWATER, Fla. — A Florida man is accused of being the driver of a vehicle when a pedestrian was killed last year, instead of the woman who was originally charged, authorities said.
Adam Wayne Garabrant, 60, of Seminole, was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of leaving the scene of a crash involving death, according to a news release from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
Thomas Rothwell, 70, of St. Petersburg, was crossing “in the area of a designated crosswalk” in Seminole at 12:49 a.m. EST on Dec. 16, 2021, when he was struck by the driver of a red 2014 Chevrolet Camaro, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Rothwell died at the scene, deputies said.
According to investigators, Francine Mashtare, 54, of Seminole, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence manslaughter on the night of the crash, the sheriff’s office said in its release.
She was later released after posting $20,000 bail, online booking records show.
During the course of their investigation, deputies said Garabrant was captured on video leaving The Liquid Therapy Bar in Pinellas Park minutes before the crash, WFLA-TV reported. He was allegedly shown driving the Camaro that killed Rothwell.
According to the sheriff’s office news release, investigators alleged that Garabrant admitted to the owner of the bar that he was the driver and should have been arrested.
Investigators also determined that Mashtare, now 55, was the passenger in the vehicle, the Times reported. Her DUI manslaughter charge will be amended to a DUI, the sheriff’s office said.
Garabrant was booked into the Pinellas County Jail and was later released after posting bail of $50,000, according to Pinellas County Sheriff’s online booking records.
that middle name
If she wasn’t the driver why is she still being charged with a DUI? She wasn’t driving so she cannot be charged with driving under the influence? What am I missing here?
A drunk who kills innocent people. Look at those eyes. He looks drunk at the time. And what's going on with those ears?
You’re missing the same thing I am.
Really.
“Her DUI manslaughter charge will be amended to a DUI, the sheriff’s office said.”
+++
I’m sure that I’m not the first person to ask, how can she be charged with DUI if she was not driving? Isn’t a DUI charge a “Driving Under the Influence” charge. She was a victim. It matters not that she was under the influence of alcohol, because she was in the passenger’s seat. Are not people told to have a “designated driver”? If the driver convinced her he was competent enough to drive (men will do that—I live with one), she should not be guilty of his actions.
(Full disclaimer: Hubby lost the taste for alcohol about 25 years ago and just stopped drinking. He made no conscious decision to do so, but suddenly decided he preferred tea or water. Prior to that, he could drink the best of us under the table).
I would think a competent attorney can get all charges against her dropped.
But then again, if she was not driving she should not need to fear a trial. It is still a very expensive process for her. This may be the criminal equivalent of lawfare.
Government pigs never miss a chance to draw someone into the dui system. Cops profit, courts profit, lawyers profit, madd profits. Pigs at a trough and they want to make sure it is always full.
While still inebriated she had to take her car home after he got out at his home and got busted.
I bet she had passed out on the way in her passenger seat as he drove himself home and she didn’t know how her car got messed up when she got home. And he was letting her take the blame for the victim’s death.
Adam Wayne Garabrant
By now the cops should know to just do a database search for that middle name when anything bad happens!
Tell your hubby he’s not alone, I did the same thing about the same amount of time ago and have never looked back.
Several years ago, I purchased a six-pack of beer for the Fourth of July weekend. It just wasn’t consumed, or maybe I or a guest drank one of them. Months later, come opening day of hunting season, I opened one of the remaining bottles and took it out to hubby as he was finished up dressing a deer, much as I had in the past. It was a “good job, have a beer to celebrate” gesture. I think he drank about half of it. I don’t think I have purchased any since then. It’s amazing how that happens to some people but not to others.
The story in this article has not been fully told. I suspect someone is trying to cover up for someone else hoping enough doubt will be cast on the entire incident so no one is held responsible. Hey! That’s why you have an attorney on speed-dial!
This is just grossly unjust in so many ways:
1. LE now claims she was just a drunken passenger. There is no law against this, but she must defend herself against the DUI charge, which LE admits is false. She should get back her attorney fees, plus the cost of the bail bond she had to post.
2. Her bail was $20k, but his bail is now $50k for exactly the same crime. This is the V card in action.
“… And what’s going on with those ears?”
***********************************
Can you guess which side of his head he lays on the pillow? ;-)
“The Liquid Therapy Bar”
Love the name..
SEMINOLE, Fla. (WFLA) — A Seminole man was accused of killing a pedestrian with his car and changing seats with his passenger to avoid arrest last year after new evidence surfaced. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/pinellas-county-man-switched-seats-with-passenger-after-fatal-dui-crash-deputies/ar-AA15mWMT
They switched places after the accident.
Pure and utter speculation on my part. Perhaps, after the accident, the shaken driver asked his passenger to take the wheel, and the car was later stopped by police.
If so, it would be nice if the reported mentioned it. Given that most people reading the story would wonder the same thing, it would seem to be important for the reporter to clarify the issue.
I will assume that the prosecutor probably had a very good reason to charge her in relation to that incident.
Given: A case where cops find contraband in person #1’s coat. Person #1 was walking with person #2. Persons #1 and #2 were wearing identical coats. The DA charges person #1 with possession in spite of the fact that he claims that he and person #2 had grabbed each other’s coats by mistake. The DA then charges person #2 with possession, and asks the judge to try them together in hopes that a jury will insist that one of them will be convicted.
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