A 68-year-old Fanning Springs man died after being struck while riding his bicycle on Tower Road in Gainesville, and Florida Highway Patrol troopers have charged the driver of the SUV that hit him with DUI manslaughter. Shateria Glenn, 30, of Lake City was arrested and booked into the Alachua County Jail following the crash, which happened just after 8 p.m. Wednesday.
According to Mainstreet Daily News Gainesville, the crash occurred at 8:09 p.m. on NW 75th Street near NW 5th Place, also known as Tower Road. Troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol say Glenn was driving her SUV south on Tower Road when the collision happened, a detail also confirmed by WCJB, which reported troopers say she was heading south just after 8 p.m.
Glenn's SUV struck the bicycle before the bicycle entered the northbound lane, according to the same Mainstreet Daily News report. The cyclist was ejected from his bike, while the bicycle was later struck by a second SUV, driven by a 45-year-old Gainesville woman, the outlet's report states. Emergency responders transported the man to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Charges Include DUI Manslaughter and Refusal to Test
Per the FHP release cited in the report, Glenn faces a lengthy list of charges: DUI causing death to a human or unborn child, homicide-negligent manslaughter, and unlawful blood alcohol causing damage to property or person. She was also charged with three counts of unlawful blood alcohol of 0.15 or higher with a person under 18 in the vehicle, along with a charge tied to unlawful blood alcohol and refusal to submit to DUI testing.
Those under-18 counts stem from the fact that Glenn's SUV was carrying three passengers at the time of the crash — a 3-year-old girl, a 1-year-old boy, and another girl whose age was not specified, all from Lake City, the report notes. It remains unclear whether the driver of the second SUV that struck the cyclist faced any citation or charge.
A Pattern of Deadly Rides on Alachua County Roads
Other bicycle fatalities have also been documented on Alachua County roads this year. In February, an SUV collided with a 41-year-old South Carolina man riding a bicycle who was in the roadway for unknown reasons, according to WCJB. In July, a 27-year-old bicyclist was killed on NW 16th Avenue in Gainesville after investigators said he attempted to cross the road mid-block, per a separate Mainstreet Daily News report.
Just weeks before the Tower Road crash, a 38-year-old Gainesville woman was killed while crossing NE Waldo Road on a bicycle when she was hit by a cargo van, according to a low-confidence account from the Alachua Chronicle. And in a separate incident on NE State Road 26, a sedan struck and killed a man riding westbound on his bicycle at 9:37 p.m., hit by a 33-year-old Gainesville man driving westbound, according to another Mainstreet Daily News report. Emergency responders in that case pronounced the cyclist dead at the scene, and the cyclist's age and city of residence had not been reported at the time.
No additional details about Glenn's blood-alcohol testing results, a possible plea, or her current custody status have been released.
