Recent UF grad charged in fatal DUI

A recent University of Florida graduate has been charged with DUI manslaughter in connection with the death of a 74-year-old woman who was on her way to pick up a friend for an evening church service.

Amanda Kathleen Boyd, 23, had a blood alcohol level of .210 about a half hour after the crash on Sept. 21 at 5:45 p.m. at the intersection of E. University Ave. and NE 55th Boulevard. In Florida, a blood alcohol level of .08 is the point at which drivers are presumed drunk.

Boyd told Florida Highway Patrol troopers investigating the crash that she was on her way to visit a friend in Ponte Vedra and had drunk one beer in the hours before the crash.

The driver of the other vehicle - Betty Ruth Hinson, of Gainesville - was pronounced dead at the scene, and firefighters had to remove her from her car using the Jaws of Life. Hinson had reportedly left Lake Forest Baptist Church minutes before the crash to pick up a friend for the evening service.

Boyd was taken to Shands at the University of Florida for treatment of a large cut on her left arm.

The initial investigation, by FHP Sgt. Nicholas Causey, determined that Boyd lost control of the black Ford Ranger pickup she was driving east on University Avenue. The truck jumped the curb and slammed into Hinson’s white Chevy Impala while the car was stopped at the intersection.

The front of the pickup hit the driver’s side of the Impala, forcing it off the road onto the shoulder of NE 55th Boulevard. The pickup rolled over at least once before landing on its right side.

FHP Cpl. G. D. Potter conducted the homicide investigation, which led to Boyd being arrested on Monday afternoon.

Potter’s investigation included speed-formula calculations. Potter’s report showed Boyd’s truck was traveling 54 mile per hour when it hit Hinson’s car. Potter wrote that the calculations also showed the truck had been traveling at 60 to 68 mph before Boyd first applied the brakes.

At the time of the crash, Boyd had just begun her final semester at UF. She graduated in December with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in physics, according to UF officials.