By Jessica Vander Velde, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
TAMPA — Nearly three weeks after a 31-year-old man was killed and his passengers badly injured in a crash at a Tampa intersection, court files suggest that police are building a DUI manslaughter case.
No one has been charged, but an affidavit for a warrant to search a Cadillac involved in the crash states that driver Charlotte V. Sowards, 18, had a blood alcohol level of 0.159 percent at the hospital. State law presumes impairment at 0.08 percent.
The affidavit also alleges that Sowards ran two stop signs at a high speed before broadsiding a car driven by the man who died, Jason Plummer. The crash occurred about 9:37 p.m. Nov. 20.
Attempts by the St. Petersburg Times to reach Sowards by telephone and at her Tampa home Wednesday were unsuccessful.
The Tampa Police Department wouldn ...