It was a heartbreaking scene: soon after the crash that left 57-year-old cyclist Kerry Lee Milich in critical condition, his roommate cycled to the scene, screamed for Milich and eventually collapsed from grief. Paramedics tended to her on the grass at the northwest corner of Belle Terre Parkway and State Road 100 as she wailed for her friend, who’d been taken to Halifax hospital.
Milich was struck by a hit-and-run driver as Milich cycled Belle Terre Parkway, going west, on the north side of State Road 100. Milich was actually in the wrong: the light had turned green for southbound traffic on Belle Terre, according to a witness and a Florida Highway Patrol report, so Milich was violating that traffic’s right of way. A red pick-up truck traveling south struck him with enough force to land him well into the intersection. He suffered many broken bones, among other injuries.
Michael Darryl Bailey, a 61-year-old resident of 31 Zeolite Place, was at the wheel of the pick-up. He was drunk, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
According to his arrest report, he went home, told his wife what happened, and “began to return to the scene.” A deputy pulled him over and waited until a Florida Highway Patrol trooper got there. As the trooper talked and observed Bailey, he noticed “his watery eyes, the smell of an alcoholic beverage coming from his facial area and his saturated pants, what seemed to be urine,” the report states.
Bailey volunteered a blood sample. It returned what the arrest report listed as a blood alcohol level of “0.101/0.105.” The legal limit for drivers in Florida is 0.08.
Leaving the scene of an accident that caused serious bodily injury is a second-degree felony. Bailey was booked at the Flagler County jail on that charge and a misdemeanor charge of drunk driving on May 3, posting $5,500 bail the same day.
It was the second arrest of an alleged hit-and-run driver on Flagler roads in the last six weeks. At the end of March, the driver accused of striking and killing Ray Almodovar, a Flagler County bus driver, on I-95 was located and arrested. But authorities are still seeking the driver who struck head-on the vehicle of a 25-year-old Palm Coast woman on Palm Harbor Parkway two weeks ago. See that story here.
Concerned Citizen says
I’m glad they caught the guy. I would like to say this in regards to cyclists though.
All to many times we are told to share the road. This should go both ways and not just be on motorists. I drive a lot for my job and cannot tell you how many times I see cyclists violate right of way.
From running a pedestrian light to just plain cutting out in traffic. I see a lot of cyclists with no proper lighting or reflective vests on.
The State of Florida requires cyclists and pedestrians to observe the rules of the road. Perhaps if there were more enforcement it would make the roads just a bit safer.
Really says
Drunk
hawkeye says
Next we would like to hear that the woman who was driving an orange dodge pick up and went through a red light and killed someone last July 1st is arrested . It has been way too long since that happened.
Anonymous says
If your involved in a accident STAY at the scene NOT a new concept. In both cases in this article there are other things then the driver of the vehicle. In the one with the cyclist YES he was over the limit BUT the cyclist was at fault for the accident as they where going AGAINST a traffic control devise ( something all to many here do). the other on 95 yes he was driving on a suspended license BUT the driver he hit was at fault by loosing control of there vehicle. in Both cases the drive would and should face charges over the accidents BUT no where as sever then the one of leaving the scene. All just my thoughts.
Just the truth says
Take his license away, throw him in jail for good.
Anonymous says
It sounds like a great tragedy where the cyclist was not paying s much attention as they should have been and had the terrible misfortune to be hit by a drunk driver.