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Carlie Brucia's Brother Sues Over Car Crash Injuries

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By TODD RUGER / Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: January 25, 2008

SARASOTA COUNTY - The half-brother of murder victim Carlie Brucia is suing a driver who caused a traffic accident last year, leaving him injured and his family with about $500,000 in medical expenses.

Leif Schorpen, 10, suffered serious head injuries and stayed in intensive care after the January 2007 crash near Bahia Vista Street and McIntosh Road.

It happened less than a year after Joseph P. Smith was sentenced to death for the 2004 abduction and murder of Leif's older sister, 11-year-old Carlie, a case that brought media attention from across the United States to Sarasota.

Kurt Schorpen, 48, uncle to Leif and Carlie, died in a single-vehicle crash in February 2006.

After Carlie's death, their mother, Susan Schorpen -- who said she is moving to the Florida Keys -- pleaded no contest to charges of prostitution and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Leif has returned to school since the accident but is still recovering, attorney David Shapiro said. The medical bills are straining his father and guardian, Shapiro said.

Bryan L. Disbrow, 37, of Sarasota, was driving his Jeep east on Bahia Vista Street and tried to use the turn lane to pass the car in front of him, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Ronald Kansler, 68, of the 2700 block of Blossom Drive, was in the turn lane waiting to make a left onto McIntosh Road when Disbrow's vehicle hit his car head-on.

Leif was in the back seat of Kansler's car and was not wearing a seat belt, the FHP said. Teresa Kansler, 62, was in the front seat and was not wearing a seat belt either. She suffered minor injuries.

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