Man arrested in hit-and-run pedestrian fatality

A 53-year-old driver was arrested today on a DUI manslaughter charge after allegedly striking a pedestrian walking along the shoulder of the Pinellas Bayway and then crashing his pickup truck in a median near his apartment, police said.

James Dean Jr., who lives in Palma Del Mar, didn’t stop or call for help after hitting 24-year-old Timothy Wood, police said. Dean also faces a charge of leaving the scene of a crash involving serious injury.

The accident happened about 12:25 a.m. today, police said. Dean was driving his 2007 Ford pickup north on Pinellas Bayway S. Wood was walking on the east shoulder, outside the driving lanes.

Police say Dean drove off the road and hit Wood, who hit his head on the windshield and right-front passenger window of the truck and tumbled onto the shoulder of the road.

Dean then kept driving north, police said. His truck was missing its right front headlight and passenger side mirror. His right front passenger window was also broken. Shards of glass lay inside the truck.

Dean drove to the entrance of Palma Del Mar, but his truck struck the east side of the road and plowed through several bushes. He struck a median, turned around, and then came to rest in the median.

At first, police responded to Palma Del Mar for a possible DUI crash investigation. But after someone else found Wood's body and called 911, police connected Dean with Wood’s death.

Police said they arrested Dean after he failed several field sobriety tests.

-- Abhi Raghunathan, Times Staff Writer