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Driver pleads guilty to DUI in fatal crash

 
Published July 23, 1996|Updated Sept. 16, 2005

(ran SS edition of METRO & STATE)

A 25-year-old Tampa man pleaded guilty Monday to driving drunk when he hit a 19-year-old waitress who later died from her injuries.

"I don't know how to say it, but I never had any intent," Brent Harmon Bostrom told Angela Adams' mother in the courtroom. "And if I could turn back the clock, I would."

He buried his face in his hands and sobbed.

"I'm sorry," he said.

As part of a plea agreement with the state, Bostrom was sentenced to two years of house arrest and eight years of probation Monday. He must perform 200 hours of community service, pay a $2,000 fine and undergo alcohol evaluation and treatment. His driver's license is permanently revoked, said Hillsborough Circuit Judge Debra Behnke.

According to prosecutor Michelle Peden, Bostrom was driving his pickup on Paxton Avenue near West Shore Boulevard the night of Aug. 14 when he hit Adams, who was walking with a friend. Bostrom continued down the street until he drove into a ditch.

Adams later died from her injuries.

The case could have faced evidence problems in trial. Investigators said Bostrom had a blood-alcohol level that was more than three times the legal limit for drivers and that Bostrom said he thought he hit someone. But Tampa police Officer John Moran, who talked to Bostrom and drew the blood, died in March after suffering a brain aneurysm.

Bostrom pleaded guilty to DUI-manslaughter and leaving the scene.