INDIAN ROCKS BEACH — A 58-year-old Iowa man faces a charge of DUI manslaughter after deputies said he was impaired when he veered into the wrong lane Monday and crashed into the front of a bus, fatally injuring a man.
The man who was killed was identified as Michael Joe Richardson, 55, of Redington Shores, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. He was placing a bike on the front rack of a Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority bus stopped in the southbound lane of Gulf Boulevard, just south of Fourth Avenue N, when the crash took place just before 2 p.m.
Then deputies said a northbound 2016 Ford Flex crossed the center line, entered southbound Gulf Boulevard and slammed head-on into the bus.
Richardson was flown by helicopter to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg for emergency medical treatment. He was later pronounced dead there.
The driver of the Ford was identified as David Larry Schwab, 58, of New Hartford, Iowa. He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment of less severe injuries.
At the hospital, deputies said Schwab consented to have his blood taken. Tests revealed that his blood-alcohol level was 0.83. Florida law presumes a driver is imparied with a BAC of 0.08 or greater.
Schwab was arrested Monday evening. He remained in the hospital on Tuesday, but the Sheriff’s Office said once he is released he will be booked into the Pinellas County jail on charges of DUI manslaughter and DUI with property damage.
Contact Tony Marrero at [email protected] or (813) 226-3374. Follow @tmarrerotimes.