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Police Beat

Woman in fatal crash identified

The driver killed in a firey one-car crash on Thursday morning has been identified as a Hawthorne woman.

The Medical Examiner's Office used dental records to identify 35-year-old Sheri Christine Giardina. She was pronounced dead at the scene of Thursday's 2:45 a.m. crash on Alachua County Road 325 about a mile and a half west of U.S. 301.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Giardina was alone in her 1997 four-door Nissan when it hit a tree alongside the south shoulder of the paved county road. After colliding with the tree, the Nissan reportedly overturned and burst into flames.

In a report on the crash, FHP Cpl. R. W. Howard noted that Giardina was not wearing a seatbelt and that it was unknown whether alcohol may have been a contributing factor.

— Karen Voyles

2 killed, 3 injured after tire blows

Two people were killed and three others injured Thursday when a tire blew out on an SUV in Columbia County.

The driver of the 1993 Ford, Doris J. Woods, 56, Quincey, and her front-seat passenger, Bennie L. Woods, 81, Tallahassee, were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.

The 11:30 a.m. wreck happened on Interstate 75 near mile marker 430, which is between U.S. 90 and Interstate 10.

Thomas H. Lloyd, 3, of Quincey, received serious injuries and was taken to Shands at the University of Florida. The two other passengers, Annette S. Rotch, 29, and 9-month-old Stormey R. Lloyd, both of Quincey, were treated for their minor injuries.

FHP Cpl. L. Albritton determined that the crash happened because the left rear tire blew out as the Ford was headed north. The Ford left the roadway, Doris Woods apparently over-corrected and the SUV began to roll over.

Doris Woods, who was not wearing her seatbelt, and Bennie Woods, who was wearing his seatbelt, were ejected, Albritton said. The three backseat passengers were all using a seatbelt or child seat.

— Karen Voyles

Man arrested in tool theft attempt

An employee of North Florida Regional Medical Center is being credited with catching an apparent burglar in the act.

Errol Eugene Loper Jr., 46, of 10704 NW County Road 236 in Alachua, was charged with burglary and grand theft following his encounter with Tony Bates, a hospital employee assigned to the landscaping department.

Bates told police that he saw someone inside a locked, fenced area on hospital property at about 5:25 p.m. Thursday. A 10-foot tall fence surrounds the area containing landscaping equipment as well as a shed used to store some of the smaller tools.

Bates told Officer Victor Norman that he saw Loper trying to pull a string trimmer from the shed. When Bates yelled at Loper, the man began to run and scaled a fence in an apparent attempt to get back out of the locked area. Bates said he caught Loper on the other side of the fence and held him down until police arrived.

Norman said he found an edger and a trimmer on the ground near where Loper had apparently gone over the fence. Inside the locked fence, Norman said he found a side of the metal shed had been pried up, apparently giving Loper an entryway into the locked shed where the power tools were being kept.

Loper was booked into the Alachua County jail following his arrest.

— Karen Voyles

State

Couple charged in mutual knife fight

LAUDERHILL — A South Florida husband and wife who allegedly attacked each other with knives are both charged with attempted murder.

Kenrick Downie and Latoya Henry-Downie remained hospitalized Friday with multiple stab wounds.

Lauderhill Police Capt. Tundra King says Kenrick Downie stabbed his wife in the eye and punctured her lung. She allegedly stabbed him multiple times in the neck and shoulders.

Police say the couple were arguing Thursday over Kenrick Downie's plans to miss work. It was not clear which spouse stabbed the other first.

— The Associated Press

Mom who hid girls in hole charged

FORT LAUDERDALE — A Pennsylvania woman who allegedly hid her daughters in a hole dug under a beach playground is awaiting a bond hearing on new child-abuse charges.

Fort Lauderdale Police said they arrested Tammy Kong-Kham on Friday on charges of child neglect and cruelty.

She was already being held without bond on a kidnapping charge from a Philadelphia arrest warrant. Authorities say Kong-Kham abducted her daughters from foster care in Philadelphia in October.

Sgt. Frank Sousa says Kong-Kham will have to stay in Florida to face the new charges before being extradited.

Kong-Kham and her 8-year-old daughter were found Tuesday in a cardboard box in Tamarac. Her 10-year-old daughter was found begging for food in a Fort Lauderdale mall two weeks ago.

— The Associated Press