Traffic Crashes Involve 2 Deputies, Policeman

By CHRIS ECHEGARAY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 6, 2007

TAMPA - Two Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies and a Tampa police officer were involved in two separate car accidents Tuesday night, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

A woman driving a Toyota Camry east on Bearss Avenue rear-ended the cruiser carrying the deputies, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said. The accident took place just before 7 p.m. near Interstate 275, Callaway said.

The Camry's driver, Marlene Creen, 71, of Lutz, broke her arm and was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, Callaway said. She will receive a citation, he said. The deputies were not injured.

The other accident took place on I-275 near Livingston Avenue, said Lt. Harold Frear of the highway patrol. Tampa police Officer Mark Sullivan-Tambo, 43, was in stable condition at St. Joseph's Hospital after the 7 p.m. accident, Frear said.

The patrol said Sullivan-Tambo was northbound in his cruiser on I-275 when he struck a 2003 Mercedes that had stopped. It hit a 2005 Mercury that also was stopped, causing it to turn over. The Mercedes driver, Michael Horowitz, 34, of Wesley Chapel, was taken to St. Joseph's; the Mercury driver, Gerald Hutney, 70, of Wesley Chapel, was taken to University Community Hospital, the patrol reported.