The Other Shoe Drops at ABC Action News; General Manager Resigns Six Months After Arrest

Six months after he was arrested and accused of burglary and battery following a hit and run accident, WFTS-Ch. 28 general manager Bill Carey will not face prosecution on the charges.

Hillsborough County prosecutors decided Thursday not to file charges against Carey, after the victim in his case signed a waiver of prosecution and reached a civil settlement for an undisclosed sum. But the news came too late to save his job; Carey resigned from the ABC Action News station Friday afternoon.

Regarding Carey's job, his attorney Ed Suarez said, "Too much time had passed from the time he went on leave until now…The decision was made mutually that the best thing was for him to move on."

Carey turned himself into police two days after a Sept. 12 traffic accident on the Courtney Campbell Causeway in which his 2006 Ford Explorer rear-ended a Mercedes driven by Ok Yi of Lutz.

Police said Carey initially didn't stop after the accident, which occurred in a driving rain, causing Yi to follow him for a mile. When he did stop, Carey handed his driver's license to Yi and then struggled to grab it back after she announced plans to call law enforcement, police said. Yi said she wound up running down the highway, Carey chasing after her, police said.

Suarez declined to outline Carey's version of events that evening, but said the conflict was a misunderstanding which did not involve alcohol. The attorney speculated Yi may have signed the waiver of prosecution "because she felt (Carey) had been punished enough.

Executives at WFTS referred questions to a spokesman for the station's owner, E.W. Scripps Co, who would only confirm that Carey had resigned. They expect to conduct a nationwide search for his replacement.

Comments

[paul]

where can i find the "undisclosed" sum $$$ amount?

[vistor from Moscow]

Hollywood is missing out on some scripts for television or even the movies. Florida has so much going on.