St. Pete Man Says He Had No Intention Of Hurting Woman: Report

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA – The 22-year-old St. Petersburg man facing manslaughter charges after he hit and killed a woman with his electric scooter says that he did not intentionally mean to hit her despite telling investigators that he made no attempt to hit her earlier this week.

Tyler Brady told CBS 10 in a jailhouse interview that he was having issues with his brakes on his scooter when he hit Alvera Minutello, 77, with his scooter last week. Police have accused Brady of not making any effort to avoid hitting the woman in the accident, which took place in the 6500 block of 18th Avenue. Minutello died from her injuries on Monday.

An affidavit states that Brady admitted driving straight into Minutello head-on without the intention of avoiding impact. In the television interview, Brady said that he thought about the fact that the woman could be seriously injured but claims he did not see Minutello until two seconds before he hit her.

“It was not my intention to hit her at all — I want to make that severely clear,” Brady said in the interview. “I had no intention of hurting this lady at all.”

He added: “There’s so many things I want to change right now that I can’t right now.”

Minutello slowly rode her bike westbound on 18th Avenue North against the south curb line, against the flow of traffic, the affidavit said. She was as close to the south curb line, in an attempt to turn south on 66th Street to go to Publix nearby, investigators said.

Brady drove his scooter at approximately 18 miles per hour and saw the victim from the middle of the intersection, 80 feet away, the affidavit states. The victim barely peddled and had possibly stopped against the curb to allow the defendant and another eastbound vehicle to pass.

In the television interview, Brady said he has been having difficulty with his brakes, which have been delayed in working. Asked if he takes responsibility for the accident, Brady responded, “that’s hard to answer.”

Minutello had several broken ribs, a broken eye socket and significant bleeding to her brain stem, detectives said. She died of her injuries at 10:25 a.m. Monday, according to a police report. Brady did not experience any injuries. The arrest affidavit reported that Brady was not showing signs of impairment caused by drugs or alcohol.

“I definitely could have (swerved) it’s definitely a very tragic situation,” he said in the TV interview. “My electric scooter has very wide handle bars so I feel like we could have crossed paths either way.”

He added: “I would say it’s a very tragic incident.”