Bollea's 100 MPH Speeding Got Warning, Not Ticket

By STEPHEN THOMPSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 6, 2007

CLEARWATER - The Florida Highway Patrol confirmed that one of its troopers gave Nick Bollea a warning rather than a ticket after clocking the teenager traveling at 100 mph along Alligator Alley last September.

Bollea, the 17-year-old son of famed pro wrestler Hulk Hogan, gave a boastful account of the stop during an interview published last month in a car magazine. Bollea's history of fast driving has come under scrutiny since Aug. 26, when he wrecked a Toyota Supra in Clearwater, injuring passenger and friend John Graziano.

Bollea, who had been driving a black Mercedes on Alligator Alley, told the trooper then he had a family emergency in the Clearwater area, said Lt. Doug Dodson, a spokesman for the patrol's 10-county district in southwest Florida.

It was unclear whether the trooper knew who Bollea was at the beginning of the stop. But by the end of their conversation, the trooper knew Bollea was Hogan's son, Dodson said.

Dodson reviewed FHP records of the incident at the request of the Tribune. He said it is within a trooper's discretion to issue a warning rather than a ticket, and the trooper faces neither an internal affairs investigation nor any discipline.

Speed has been cited as a factor in the Clearwater wreck. Clearwater police are still investigating, and Graziano, a 22-year-old veteran of the Iraq war, remains in critical condition at Bayfront Medical Center.

In other developments in the case:

•During an interview this week with the celebrity news show "The Insider," Hogan said his son was not racing at the time of the Clearwater crash. Hogan also said drugs or alcohol were not involved, and revealed he was following his son to dinner when he came upon the crash. "I never seen anything like that," Hogan said.

•A judge ordered that Graziano's father, Edward, can visit his son in the hospital only if he is accompanied by an off-duty police officer or a private detective. Edward Graziano was arrested last week after a brawl at the hospital, which erupted when family members learned John Graziano's condition had worsened.

The Alligator Alley incident came to light when Bollea boasted that he had been stopped twice in Collier County for speeding without receiving a ticket. He made the comments during an interview in this month's issue of Rides magazine.

Bollea, who also goes by the name Nick Hogan, said in the interview that he was on his way from Miami to Clearwater when he was pulled over for driving 107 mph and let go because the law enforcement agent recognized him.

"The guy let me off," Bollea is quoted as saying. "He's like, 'Hey, I know who you are, just keep going, ya know.' "

Minutes later, Bollea said in the interview, he was pulled over by a highway patrol officer doing 113. He quotes the officer saying, "I just heard on the radio that my buddy pulled you over and let you go. I'ma let you go this time. It's your second warning. You get pulled over again, you're probably going to jail."

Three minutes after that, Bollea told the magazine, he was doing 123 mph in a 50 mph zone and was stopped again. This time he quotes an officer saying, "Hey, I just heard you got pulled over twice in the last 10 minutes. I got to write you a ticket."

When Dodson of the FHP was asked to check Bollea's claims, he found that on Sept. 17, 2006, about 11 a.m., Bollea was stopped twice - not three times - and on the second occasion, he received a $305.50 ticket.

The first time Bollea was stopped, a trooper gave him a stern warning and said, "Look, you need to slow down," Lt. Dodson said.

After Bollea continued driving west along Alligator Alley, a wide-open toll-road along Interstate 75, the trooper made a cell phone call to a partner positioned farther west and informed him about the stop, Dodson said.

During the conversation, Bollea blew past the second trooper, Dodson said. The trooper caught up with him and issued the ticket. This time, Bollea was going 115 mph in a 70 mph zone, Dodson said.

The two stops were 19 miles apart.

Adjudication in the case was eventually withheld.

Since then, Bollea has been stopped for speeding at least three times.

In February, he was cited for driving 57 mph in a 30 mph zone in Dade County, but adjudication was withheld. In April, he was clocked driving 106 mph in a 70 mph zone in Osceola County. He was convicted and four points were added to his driving record.

And on Aug. 10, 16 days before the Clearwater wreck, Bollea was ticketed for traveling 82 mph on a stretch of U.S. 19 that was under construction. The speed limit was 45 mph, a copy of the ticket says. Bollea also wasn't wearing a seat belt, records say.

A court hearing was originally set for Sept. 10 in that case, but it has been postponed until Dec. 14.

In the interview with "The Insider," Hogan bemoans the treatment his son has received by news organizations.

"It's just so unfair the way the media jumped on my son, the way they portrayed him," Hogan said in the interview.

On the night of the Clearwater crash, Hogan said, he, Bollea and Bollea's friends were going to go to dinner, but Nick, rather than wait for his father, insisted on going ahead because the group didn't have a table at the restaurant where they were headed.

As Hogan was taking his normal route there, he noticed "this yellow car all twisted." The police were trying to stop him, apparently recognizing him in his car, and Hogan said that at first, "I just blew right by 'em," he said in the interview.

"When I saw the wreck I didn't think anybody was alive," he said.

"John is going to be OK," Hogan added. "If things keep going the way they're going, my son Nick and I are going to walk John right out of that hospital."

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.