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Motorist Faces DUI Manslaughter Charge In Motorcyclist's Death

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2007

Updated: 11/28/2007 04:30 pm

A Deltona man convicted in 2005 of driving under the influence was charged Tuesday night in the traffic crash death of a Gibsonton man.

The Florida Highway Patrol said a motorcyclist was killed in Brandon on Tuesday night when a pickup hit the sport bike.

Jeffrey Freson, 42, of Deltona, was charged with DUI manslaughter, according to an arrest report.

The motorcyclist, 24-year-old Joshua Motsinger of 1008 Prevatt St., Gibsonton, died at Tampa General Hospital. Motsinger was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, patrol spokesman Trooper Larry Coggins said.

At 9:43 p.m., Freson was driving east on State Road 60 at Providence Road in a 2005 Ford F-150. He made a U-turn and struck Motsinger, who had the green light and was westbound on a 2006 Suzuki motorcycle.

As he investigated the wreck, Cpl. Douglas Guy smelled alcohol on Freson's breath and noted that he had bloodshot eyes.

"I then changed hats and switched from a crash investigation to a DUI investigation," Guy wrote in the arrest report.

The corporal took a blood sample from the driver at the scene of the crash, Coggins said. Results from the test won't be available for several weeks.

More than 361/27 hours after the crash, Freson was booked into Orient Road Jail, where he submitted to a Breathalyzer test, Coggins said.

His blood alcohol level was 0.07 percent. Florida law assumes a driver is impaired at 0.08 percent.

In 2005, Freson was convicted in Clermont County, Ohio, of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving with an open container of alcohol and possession of marijuana, records show.

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