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2 Charged In Death Of Man Who Stopped To Help At Crash

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 12, 2008

Updated: 08/12/2008 04:19 pm

James Braley

Jessica Paquette

TAMPA - Two people have been charged with DUI-manslaughter after the October death of a Riverview man, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Investigators arrested James Braley this morning and Jessica Lynn Paquette on Sunday, Sgt. Steve Gaskins said. Braley also was charged with DUI with serious bodily injury.

In October, Braley and Paquette were involved in a crash that led to the death of Amir Sarhaddi, a 29-year-old father of two.

They were driving separate vehicles, Gaskins said.

"I personally have not seen this happen before, and I would say it is not common," Gaskins wrote in an e-mail to the Tribune. "But DUI drivers are involved in 1/3 or more of all fatal crashes so I am not surprised."

Braley's blood-alcohol level was .176, and Paquette's was .219, Gaskins said. Florida law presumes a driver is impaired at a level of 0.08 or greater.

Authorities say the wreck unfolded like this:

Shortly after 3 a.m. Oct. 28, just north of the Gibsonton Drive exit on Interstate 75, Braley didn't notice the Jeep in front of him slow down. His Infiniti hit the Jeep, flipping it over on the grass shoulder and into a tree.

Braley's Infiniti spun and blocked the right and right-center lanes, according to a highway patrol report.
Sarhaddi pulled his Dodge pickup onto the shoulder to help, as did another driver.

That's when a Saturn being driven by Paquette, 23, of Riverview, crashed into the Infiniti, hit Sarhaddi and struck the truck of the other driver who'd stopped to help.

Braley and the Jeep's driver, Perets E. Nisim, suffered minor injuries, and Paquette wasn't injured, the patrol said. The other driver who stopped, Jared Cason, 19, of North Port, also wasn't injured.

Paquette and Braley, 36, of Tampa, have been released from jail.

Paquette was arrested in April 2008 in a separate incident and charged with DUI and child neglect. Details on that incident and a disposition today on it weren't immediately available, but the Hillsborough County court's Web site indicates she has a prior DUI conviction as well.

Her attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

After the October crash, Sarhaddi's business partner, Gregg Alexander of St. Petersburg, remembered Sarhaddi as a laid-back but hard worker who loved good audio equipment and playing Xbox video games with his 11-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.

The descendant of Persian immigrants grew up in Tampa.

Alexander and Sarhaddi ran a telecommunications business, One World Communications, that designed and installed voice over Internet protocol technology for telephone and computer systems.

Sarhaddi couldn't just drive past the overturned Jeep and the smashed car, friends said. It was not in his nature, they said. When Sarhaddi saw the wreck, he pulled his pickup into the emergency lane of southbound Interstate 75 and got out to help.

In doing so, he became a victim himself.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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