ST. PETERSBURG - Police say they weren't chasing an 18-year-old pickup driver when she bolted from a traffic stop and crashed, killing a bicyclist then injuring half a dozen others when the truck flipped into a crowd.
The woman, listed in records as Denise Battles and Denise Battle, is expected to be charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death, vehicular homicide, fleeing and eluding, and driving without a license where a death occurred, said Mike Jockers, St. Petersburg police traffic homicide investigator.
Police arrested her Thursday, a day after she fled from the crash scene on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street south of 22nd Avenue South, police said.
They gave this account of the incident:
Battles was driving a Dodge Ram carrying two passengers on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street when St. Petersburg police Officer Matthew Stringfellow saw the pickup weaving shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday. Stringfellow flicked on his police lights, but not his siren, and the pickup took off. Stringfellow flicked his lights off and did not chase the pickup. Later, investigators would learn the passengers were screaming at her to slow down, Jockers said.
After driving about nine blocks, Battles lost control of the truck. It appears she tried to avoid hitting the bicyclist, who was riding on the street. The pickup hit him, severing his leg and throwing him into a concrete pole.
He died at the scene. He was identified as Steven Mincey, 49, who lived nearby at 840 13th Ave. S.
The truck was going at least 65 mph, Jockers said.
When Battles turned the steering wheel to avoid Mincey, a back wheel slid, the tires squealed and a crowd scattered at Ike's Liquor Store, 1205 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. The Ram slid toward them, struck a curb and flipped onto cars and people.
One was James Lewis, 67, who was standing or sitting at the hood of his 1987 Mercury. Lewis was in critical condition Thursday at Bayfront Hospital.
Six others in the crowd also were injured: a man and woman listed in stable condition, a man who was treated and released and three women who were treated and released.
The pickup hit three cars.
Battles' two passengers also were injured. Lucretia Mullan was listed in guarded condition Thursday and Shalunda Jenkins was treated and released.
Battles and one of her passengers caught a ride to Bayfront, Jockers said. The passenger stayed at the hospital but Battles checked in, sat in a wheelchair bleeding, then got up and left.
Police found her and took her to Ed White Hospital, where she was treated for a cut to her forehead.
The pickup, rented from Enterprise, was reported stolen about 30 minutes after the wreck, Jockers said. Police don't think the pickup was stolen.
In a brief statement to police, Battles acknowledged she was in the pickup, had been drinking and using marijuana and ecstasy, but insisted a man had been behind the wheel, Jockers said.
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