Relatives grieve deaths of Ruskin couple, son

Eva Ramierez heard a knock on her door Sunday night that no one can ever prepare for. Two Hillsborough County Sheriff's Deputies came to tell her that her son, daughter-in-law and 5-year-old grandson had all been in a terrible car accident.

"I thought, 'They're at the emergency room, I've got to run to the emergency room'," she said. "Then he told me it was bad, and that's when I knew somebody had died."

Gerald Pittman, 29, his wife, Sylvia Pittman, 27, and their son Jarod died at the scene, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.

"I couldn't believe it. Two-thirds of my family, gone. Just like that," Ramierez said through tears.

Sylvia Pittman was driving a 1988 Chevrolet Celebrity north on Southeast 30th Street and ran a stop sign at Southeast 21st Avenue in Ruskin just before 7 p.m., the sheriff's office said.

A 1999 Ford Expedition driven by Eduardo Herrera-Loa, 44, of Ruskin, was heading east on 21st Avenue and ran into the driver's side of the Chevrolet. The impact sent the car into a utility pole, the sheriff's office said.

The sheriff's office says all the Pittmans were wearing their seatbelts. Jarod Pittman was sitting in a booster seat in the back seat of the car.

Ramierez has called him her "little pea pie" since he was a baby. She describes him as an active kid who was full of energy.

"He loved to wrestle. He loved to run, and chase and throw the ball," she said.

Ramierez said the whole family had just spent the Thanksgiving holiday together, and she's thankful for that.

"I had Thanksgiving with both my boys. It was a really good holiday," she said.

Ramierez describes her daughter-in-law, Syliva, as the daughter she never had.

"There've been times throughout the day that I've thought of, or done things, or something's happened, and I wanted to call her and tell her and I can't."

Sylvia Pittman was already looking forward to celebrating Christmas.

"She was so excited about Christmas that she set the Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving," Ramierez said. "But I told her she wasn't allowed to turn the lights on until Thanksgiving was over."

Sylvia and Gerald Pittman had been married eight years, and Ramierez said they planned on having more children. She says her son was a kind-hearted and loving husband and father.

Ramierez said she doesn't know the details of the accident. She doesn't know where the Pittmans were going and says that doesn't matter now.

"Someone out there took my family away from me," she said. "I don't exactly know what happened. Three of my loved ones are gone, and I'll never see them again."

Herrera-Loa was treated and released from South Bay Hospital in Sun City Center, the sheriff's office said.

Investigators are waiting for results of tests on blood samples taken from Herrera-Loa to determine whether he was driving under the influence of alcohol, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.