Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 7-17-18

Local
Competency Exam Ordered For Driver In Fatal Crash
Last Friday, Hillsbor- ough Circuit Judge ordered a mental competency exam- ination for a driver charged with murder. The man’s competency was raised at his arraignment by his de- fense attorney.
Judge Mark Kiser or- dered Dr. George Northrup to examine Mikese Morse and deliver his report at a hearing in Au- gust.
If Morse is found to be incompetent, he will most likely be sent to a mental hospital for treatment. Once he is determined to be com- petent, he will stand trial.
His attorney, James Smith entered a not guilty plea on the first degree mur- der charge on Morse’s be- half.
Morse was thrown into the spotlight on June 24th, after a hit and run driver struck a father and his two sons. The accident took place at New Tampa Blvd., and Wood Sage Drive.
According to the Tampa
Police Department, 42-year- old Pedro Aguerreberry and his two sons, Lucas, 8, and 3-year-old Bennett were riding their bicycles on the sidewalk. The driver of a maroon Dodge Avenger was traveling eastbound on New Tampa Blvd. The driver crossed the traffic lane and collided with the family.
Aguerreberry died as a result of his injuries. His son, Bennett, was seriously injured, and Lucas received non-life threatening in- juries. Both children are ex- pected to recover, police said.
After the crash, the driver of the vehicle fled the scene without stopping. The search for the vehicle contin- ued for several hours.
Several hours later, po- lice located the vehicle near the home of the parents of Mikese Malik Morse.
According to Criminal Report Affidavit, Morse “made a U-turn after he ob- served the victims riding their bikes on the sidewalk
MIKESE MORSE
area along New Tampa Blvd. “The defendant (Morse) intentionally drove his 2008 red, 4 door Dodge off the roadway, across the grass easement on to the sidewalk and accelerated rapidly. The defendant (Morse) inten- tionally struck the victims with his vehicle and fled the
scene.”
The Affidavit further
stated that the vehicle had plastic taped to the front windshield to conceal the damaged windshield. There was also a witness to the ac-
cident, police said.
Morse, 30, is currently
being held at the Hillsbor- ough County Jail without bond. He is charged with first-degree murder, leaving the scene of a crash with death, 2 counts of leaving the scene of a crash with se- rious bodily injuries, and 2 counts of attempted first-de- gree murder.
Olympic Qualifier
A Tampa native, Morse attended high school in Texas and Ohio, before graduating from Freedom High School. While attend- ing school in different states, Morse played basketball.
He began track during his sophomore year while at- tending Shaker Heights High School in Ohio.
After moving back to Tampa during his senior year, Morse played football at Freedom High School and helped lead the Patriots to their first winning season.
In 2006, he won the long jump, high jump, and placed
second in the triple jump at the regional meet.
After graduating, he con- tinued his education at the University of South Florida, where he, as a sophomore, became the school’s first in- dividual Big East Conference champ after winning the long jump.
He transferred to the University of Miami and broke records and earned All-American honors for the second time.
Morse is an American track & field athlete who specializes in the long jump. His personal best of 8.12 m (26 feet, 7 3/4 inches), was set in 2016. In 2014, he was third in the Jamaica Inter- national Invitational, and produced the farthest jump to ever not make the final at the 2015 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
He won the 2016 Cayman Invitational 7.65 m (25 ft. 1- 1/4 inches). Morse is a three- time U. S. Olympic Trials qualifier and two-time finalist in 2008 and 2016).
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