By Danny Valentine, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, December 2, 2010
TAMPA — An 18-year-old man was arrested Thursday on a first-degree murder warrant more than a month after Tampa police said he caused another man to fatally crash into a light pole.
Police said Luis Pierre Jr. jumped into 38-year-old Forrest Cooper's Hyundai after an Oct. 26 fight at Aliana Meat Market, 4016 N 22nd St.
He and another woman started beating Cooper as he drove away, according to police, causing the driver to lose control and strike a light pole at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 20th Street.
Cooper died at the scene, police said. Police said a 2 1/2 year old girl and teenage boy were also in the car. The boy was uninjured in the crash but the girl was treated at Tampa General Hospital.
The victim's sister, Katie Brown, told the St. Petersburg Times at the time that her brother was attacked by Pierre and an unidentified woman whom she said was her brother's ex-girlfriend.
That woman was not identified on Thursday, but a Tampa police spokeswoman said the investigation is continuing and that more charges are pending in the case.
Besides first-degree murder, Pierre also faces two counts of culpable negligence and one charge of burglary, according to jail records.
He was arrested by Tampa police officers and U.S. Marshals at his home, 7814 N Mulberry St. He was being held without bail Thursday in the Hillsborough County jail.
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