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Pedestrian teen loses leg after being struck by swerving car

News Channel 8 photo by WALLY PATANOW

After striking Hall, the Accord continued east, striking two utility poles before stopping.

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TBO.com

Published: April 20, 2009

Updated: 04/20/2009 07:11 pm

SAFETY HARBOR - A pedestrian's leg was severed when he was struck by a car early today on Main Street in Safety Harbor, Pinellas County sheriff's deputies said.

Main Street was reopened to traffic about 11:30 this morning between McMullen-Booth Road and 13th Avenue. Deputies kept the road closed during their investigation.

Andrew Scott Hall, 18, was in front of his apartment building on Main Street just east of McMullen-Booth about 1 a.m. when a Honda Accord apparently swerved toward the sidewalk on the south side, striking Hall, deputies said.

Hall was taken by helicopter to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg with a severed leg and crushed pelvis. Doctors have been unable to reattach the limb, deputies said.

"There was another person laying down comforting him, telling him it was OK," said Hall's neighbor, Becky Dacier. "But it was just nothing you could do for him."

Hall's landlord, Persa Tapalaga, said Hall and his brother are good kids.

"He was out at the wrong time, this poor innocent kid," Tapalaga said.

Deputies believe the Accord was driven by Joshua Dean West, 24, of 3536 Marlin Spike Drive, Tampa, and identified a possible passenger as Douglas Zeigler, 24, of Clearwater.

After striking Hall, the Accord continued east, striking two utility poles before stopping, deputies said. West tried to run away after the crash but was captured about a block away by a sheriff's dog, deputies said.

The Accord was speeding and deputies are investigating whether alcohol was a factor, sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said.

West was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa and was listed in critical condition. Zeigler was taken to Bayfront and was released from the hospital this afternoon. Both men have been uncooperative during the investigation, deputies say.

The Honda Accord was been pulled from a wooded area nearby, deputies said

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