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2 On Motorcycle Dead; Man Charged With DUI-Manslaughter

News Channel 8 photo by JIM FAHQUHAR

Killed in the crash were Harold Steve Davis, 25, who was driving the motorcycle, and his passenger, Jason Hennis, 24.

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON and YOLANDA FERNANDEZ

The Tampa Tribune and News Channel 8

Published: August 20, 2008

Updated: 08/20/2008 04:08 pm

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  Jimmy Dunn

Jason Hennis

Harold Steve Davis

CLEARWATER - At the wheel of the 1992 Oldsmobile was Jimmy Dunn, who over the past 21 years has been convicted of drunken driving three times.

On the motorcycle was Harold Steve Davis, a 25-year-old husband and father of two who had been riding the 1999 Suzuki only since Saturday, family members said. On the back of the Suzuki was his longtime friend Jason Hennis, 24, who had borrowed Davis' helmet for the ride, family members said.

At 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, Dunn, 58, turned the Oldsmobile in front of the motorcycle at the intersection of Sunset Point and Keene roads. The Suzuki struck the Oldsmobile, and Davis and Hennis were thrown from the bike. Davis died immediately; Hennis, Davis' friend since middle school, died later at Bayfront Medical Center, Clearwater police said.

Dunn drove off, but at least one witness caught up with him and detained him for police. There was a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, and breath test readings later performed by authorities put his blood-alcohol content at .179 and .186, according to police records. A driver in Florida is presumed intoxicated when his or her percentage is .08 or above.

Records also suggest Dunn, who has also been convicted of dealing cocaine, may have been under the influence of drugs at the time of the wreck.

The longtime Clearwater resident is being held at the Pinellas County Jail on two counts of driving under the influence-manslaughter.

"He should have never been on the road," Gina Heid, Davis' wife, said of Dunn. "He took my husband, my kids' father … for no reason."

Dunn's license was revoked for longer and longer periods with each of his successive three convictions, according to records with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

According to the records, Dunn's license was first revoked for 180 days in 1987 after his first drunken driving conviction. It was then revoked for five years in 1989 after another, and in 1996 it was revoked for 10 years following a third conviction. Records say he won his license back last year.

Davis and Heid had two children together – one 3 years old, the other 19 months – and he considered Heid's 5-year-old his own, she said. The Clearwater couple was saving up for a house so the children could have a back yard, she said.

Hennis, who lived not far from his friend, was an aspiring pharmacist's assistant, said his mother, Linda "Dee Dee" Hennis.

"I'm a single mom of 18 years," she said. "All I have is my three boys, and now someone has taken one away."

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com Yolanda Fernandez can be reached at (727) 536-8443 or yfernandez@wfla.com.

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