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2 Pasco students in stable condition after being hit by car

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By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 6, 2009

Updated: 10/06/2009 04:04 pm

HUDSON - Two teenagers are in stable condition after being struck by a car this morning while walking to their bus stop, officials said.

William B. Calder, 13, and Walter Edelman, 15, both of Hudson, were walking in the street when they were hit, troopers said.

The incident occurred on Utica Drive just south of New York Avenue. Part of Utica was shut down while troopers investigated.

The driver, 21-year-old Deanna Leggio of Hudson, told troopers she had to swerve to miss a group of children walking on Utica and then didn't see the two boys, who were walking apart from the group, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Larry Kraus said.

Leggio wasn't injured.

Pasco Fire Rescue got the call at 7:05 a.m. today; the two teens were flown by medical helicopter to St. Petersburg hospitals.

As part of the investigation, troopers visited the boys at All Children's Hospital and Bayfront Medical Center.

Edelman is a ninth-grader at Hudson High and Calder is a seventh-grader at Hudson Middle, said Jack Greene, district supervisor of transportation operation. Counselors were being sent to both schools, which are on Cobra Way.

The boys were walking to their bus stop at Utica Drive and New York Avenue when they were struck, Greene said.

"It happened quite a ways away from the bus stop," he said.

The school district is investigating even though the incident didn't happen at the bus stop. Greene said the bus stop is a long-established one, and he doesn't know of any other incidents in the area.

"We're going out to do a bus stop evaluation," he said.

Utica Drive has no sidewalks or streetlights and the incident happened before sunrise. New York Avenue also doesn't have sidewalks.

Hours after the crash, orange spray paint told part of the story, marking where the car stopped and where the teens were hit.

Leggio couldn't be reached for comment but her father, Ottavio Leggio, 53, said every day the same kids intentionally block the road to traffic, often swearing at cars and making obscene gestures as they try to get by.

"What they do is take the whole road across, and they will not move for the cars," he said. "I'm surprised it's taken so long for this to happen."

His daughter, he said, is cautious when she goes by this area en route to her job in the New Port Richey area as a dental assistant. She was just trying to get by the teens when something went terribly wrong, Ottavio Leggio said.

"I couldn't even understand her because she was such in tears and worried about the boys, too," he said of his daughter's call to tell him the news today. "…God forbid. It could've been a lot worse."

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083.

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