http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/21/elderly.driver.ap/index.html

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) -- A 93-year-old driver apparently suffering from dementia fatally struck a pedestrian and drove for three miles with the man's body through his windshield, police said.

Ralph Parker was stopped after he drove through a tollbooth on the Sunshine Skyway, Traffic Homicide Investigator Michael Jockers said. The toll taker called police, he said.

Parker was not likely to face charges because he did not appear to know what happened or where he was, said Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant in the Pinellas-Pasco County State Attorney's Office.

"He may have somewhere in his mind have realized it was a crash, but immediately forgot about it," Jockers said.

The victim's leg was severed in the Wednesday night crash, police said. The man, whose name was not released, was 52.

Parker had renewed his license in 2003.

"That was the one thing he had, to get in his car and just drive for the sheer enjoyment of driving," Jockers said. Parker lived alone after his wife died in 1998, authorities said.



There REALLY needs to be a cut-off age for driving.

I remember another story that involved a woman who drove the car home and parked it in the garage without knowing a man was wedged in the windshield. That story involved alcohol and she was arrested.

minneapolisgenius said:

That was the one thing he had, to get in his car and just drive for the sheer enjoyment of driving with a corpse sportin' a severed leg hanging outta the windshield.



but wouldn't that make a funky halloween car costume????

XxAxX said:

That's a great idea though. This year for Halloween I'll go as an old man in a cardboard car with a fake corpse with a severed leg hanging out of it! Thanks. I was having trouble deciding what to be.

minneapolisgenius said:

i mean, in a way this story is too funny in an utterly demonic and grisly fashion. can you imagine being the toll booth worker?????

and exactly WHAT kind of conversation ensued after the old guy pulled up, acting all normal and trying to pay the toll and stuff????

i feel very, very sorry for the severed leg pedestrian. obviously he didn't die right away either. what do you supposed HE was saying during the drive???

DAMN my imagination. but, although i'm ashamed to say it there's more than a bit of humor in this story. bad humor but funny nonetheless

this should just serve as a reminder to ALL of us that life is short and uncertain.

driving is dangerous enough but apparently now even walking can be deadly. because at any given moment in time there may be a demented person heading our way....

It would be ageism to declare an age when you can no longer drive.

However, I think people should have to retake their driving tests every few years, seriously.


And how can you kill a pedestrian and forget about it when their carcus is lodged in your window right in front of you? Surely he isn't blind too.




[Edited 10/21/05 11:06am]

can you imagine? i mean, what could have POSSIBLY been going through old guy's head during all of this?????

XxAxX said:

Uhh...the windshield?
no...wait...that would've been what was going thru the ped's head.

I remember another story that involved a woman who drove the car home and parked it in the garage without knowing a man was wedged in the windshield. That story involved alcohol and she was arrested.

this is a damn shame. and people complain about teenage drivers.

JasmineFire said:

How'd your dinner go?

Did you ask that guy out?

I remember another story that involved a woman who drove the car home and parked it in the garage without knowing a man was wedged in the windshield. That story involved alcohol and she was arrested.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/21/elderly.driver.ap/index.html

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) -- A 93-year-old driver apparently suffering from dementia fatally struck a pedestrian and drove for three miles with the man's body through his windshield, police said.

Ralph Parker was stopped after he drove through a tollbooth on the Sunshine Skyway, Traffic Homicide Investigator Michael Jockers said. The toll taker called police, he said.

Parker was not likely to face charges because he did not appear to know what happened or where he was, said Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant in the Pinellas-Pasco County State Attorney's Office.

"He may have somewhere in his mind have realized it was a crash, but immediately forgot about it," Jockers said.

The victim's leg was severed in the Wednesday night crash, police said. The man, whose name was not released, was 52.

Parker had renewed his license in 2003.

"That was the one thing he had, to get in his car and just drive for the sheer enjoyment of driving," Jockers said. Parker lived alone after his wife died in 1998, authorities said.



There REALLY needs to be a cut-off age for driving.

but now there's this other guy who's really sexy...

JasmineFire said:

...that you will also be too scared to ask out...

2teh9s said:

i'm scared to say hi to him...

but he said hello to me today and i was all excited.

JasmineFire said:

jbchavez said:

and that reminds me of that other story about the woman who hit a guy and drove home and parked her car in the garage with him hanging inside of the windshield. the guy was still alive when she arrived home and he begged her to take him to a hospital for help, he died from blood loss.then she called up some friends and asked for their assistance in disposing of the body. apparantely, she was under the influence of ectacy and alcohol when she ran him over.