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Illinois Man Charged With DUI In Fatal '08 Largo Wreck

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 16, 2009

A 57-year-old man has been extradited from Illinois to face charges that he was drunk when he was involved in a wreck last year in Largo that left a motorcyclist dead and the motorcyclist's passenger without a leg.

James Laier was booked into the Pinellas County Jail this morning on charges of driving under the influence-manslaughter and DUI-serious bodily injury. Bail was set at $55,000.

On July 18, Laier tried to cross Ridge Road from Lakeside Road when his Chevrolet S-10 pickup collided with a 2007 Yamaha R6 sport motorcycle, Largo police said. The motorcyclist, John Prado, 21, of Clearwater, was killed, and his passenger, Heather Lynn Cook, lost at least one leg, said Sgt. George Edmiston of the Largo Police Department.

Neither Laier nor a passenger in the truck was seriously hurt.

Edmiston said this morning that Laier's blood-alcohol levels were 0.195 and 0.196. The level at which a driver in Florida is presumed drunk is 0.08.

After the wreck, Laier left Largo and went to Illinois, where he married a woman who was his girlfriend in Pinellas, Edmiston said. Before his extradition, authorities in McHenry County, Ill., accused him of beating her, Edmiston said. He was charged there with aggravated battery, Edmiston said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336.

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