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Police: Woman in pickup strikes head on mailbox, dies

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Pinellas Park police say Angela Gaskin was killed when her head struck this mailbox post this morning.

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON

sthompson@tampatrib.com

Published: July 14, 2009

Updated: 07/14/2009 04:39 pm

PINELLAS PARK - The incident this morning during which a 20-year-old Ocala woman died when she hung her head out of the window of a moving pickup truck – and it struck the base of a row of mailboxes -- is being handled as a criminal investigation, Pinellas Park police said this afternoon.

Investigators have obtained blood and urine from the driver of the pickup, identified as Karl Jeckel, 24. Jeckel was apparently driving the woman, Angela Gaskin, 20, to his home at 3817 102nd Place N. when she hung her head out the window at roughly 12:30 a.m., said Capt. Sanfield Forseth. Her head struck the base of a row of mailboxes outside some condominiums in the 4600 block of Lake Boulevard.

Jeckel, who also had a second passenger in the car, a 21-year-old woman also from Ocala, drove Gaskin to Northside Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

Investigators did not need permission from Jeckel to obtain his blood and urine because a person died in an incident during which he was at the wheel of a vehicle, Forseth said.

"It's an open DUI investigation," he said. The results are pending.

The truck was travelling at about 30 mph when Gaskin, who had her complete upper body hanging out the window, hit the base for the mailboxes. The prevailing theory for the incident is drunken shenanigans, Forseth said.

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