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Driver's Blood Test Yielded 0.267 In DUI Homicide Case

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 4, 2008

  Ramon Bustamonte

ST. PETERSBURG - Ramon Bustamonte III, the 30-year-old St. Petersburg man arrested Wednesday in a February wreck that left a woman dead, had a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit, police said.

He wasn't wearing corrective lenses, as required under the terms of his driver's license, police said, and he was driving up to 70 mph in a 40 mph zone.

He also tried to get his girlfriend, who was a passenger in his truck, to take the blame for the fatal wreck, police said.

These are some of the details concerning the charges against Bustamonte that appear in court documents released today.

On Wednesday, Bustamonte, of 2550 39th Ave. N., was charged with vehicular homicide and DUI-manslaughter.

Shortly after 1 a.m. Feb. 17, Bustamonte drove his Toyota Tundra pickup into the passenger side of a Ford Focus whose driver was backing into 38th Avenue North, the documents state. The driver of the Focus, Valeria Cattaruzza, 33, of Clearwater, was killed.

Police noticed afterward that he had a strong smell of alcohol on his breath and that -- as he was pacing back and forth in apparent disbelief, muttering, "I can't believe this happened" -- he was stumbling and staggering, the court documents state.

Bustamonte volunteered samples of his blood after the wreck, the documents state. One reading put his blood alcohol level at 0.267. One taken about an hour later registered 0.243. A driver in Florida is presumed to be intoxicated if his or her blood alcohol level is 0.08 or above.

While the medical personnel were taking the blood samples, Bustamonte urinated in his pants, and his zipper was undone, the documents state.

Bustamonte's vision is 20-70 in the right eye and 20-40 in the left. He is required to wear corrective lenses to drive, but Bustamonte wasn't wearing his contact lenses, the documents state.

He told police he didn't like putting them in and taking them out each day, though he acknowledged to investigators he needed the lenses to perform everyday tasks, the documents state.

Earlier that evening, Bustamonte told police that he and his girlfriend, Jennifer Schipper, who was a passenger in the truck, had gone to the Daiquiri Deck and that he had two to three Bud Light beers and a shot of liquor, the documents state. They had met up with other couples there to celebrate a friend's birthday, he said.

Schipper told police that before they went to the Daiquiri Deck, they stopped by the Green Iguana and each had three beers.

After the Daiquiri Deck, the couple went to McDonald's and bought burgers, french fries, apples pies, chicken nuggets and drinks, the documents state. The two, who were not wearing seat belts at the time of the crash, apparently were eating the food when the truck hit the Focus, the documents state.

Bustamonte maintained they were wearing seat belts, the documents state.

He also said the Focus had neither its taillights nor headlights on when it was struck, but investigators determined through forensic testing that the lights were on, the documents state.

Schipper warned Bustamonte about Cattaruzza's car, the documents state, yelling at him to slow down when he asked, "What do I do?"

Accident reconstruction measurements determined that upon impact, he was going 52.5 mph to 70 mph in what is a 40 mph zone, the documents state.

Cattaruzza had to back out of the circular driveway because another vehicle in the driveway kept her from going forward, the documents state. She had no drugs or alcohol in her system.

A motorcyclist came upon the wreck and heard Bustamonte telling Schipper, "Oh, baby, you're driving. Take the blame. Nothing will happen to you; you're a female. But they will put me in prison."

Schipper replied, "I can't do this."

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

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