80-year-old victim dies after hit-and-run crash

An 80-year-old has died after a hit-and-run crash that happened in the area of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard.

Police said that Ernest Coluzzi died from his injuries Wednesday (May 15) at St. Joseph's Hospital.

Clearwater Police and Clearwater Fire and Rescue responded to the traffic accident just after 2:45 p.m. on Monday (May 13). The crash involved Coluzzi, who was operating a motorized scooter, and a pickup truck.

The pickup truck driver, Kris Paterson, 36, fled the scene but stopped a half mile down the road to get the mobility scooter unstuck from his truck.

Police said he later claimed he knew he had run over something, but he didn't know that it was a person. He also told police he was running late for his job.

Paterson was arrested and booked into the Pinellas County Jail.

He was originally charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury. But, the City of Clearwater said in a release Wednesday it's expected that the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office will file upgraded charges against Paterson.

For an unknown amount of time, the mail outside one St. Petersburg home kept piling up; it turns out the owner died in his living room but wasn't found for years until the bank came to change the locks. Now, a real estate team is flipping the dilapidated home to give it a second chance in the community.

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