Olympic Diver Charged as Car Rams Crowd, Kills Two Youths
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BRANDON, Fla. — Bruce David Kimball, an Olympic silver medalist in diving four years ago, was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide today after police say he ran his automobile into a crowd of 30 to 40 people on a dead-end road, killing two and injuring six others.
Kimball, 25, posted $10,000 bond and was released from the Hillsborough County Jail where he was taken after the accident late Monday, said sheriff’s spokesman Jack Espinosa.
Results of a blood alcohol test administered after the accident were not immediately available.
Espinosa said Kimball, who survived an automobile crash in 1981 and recovered from injuries to finish second in platform diving competition at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, was estimated to be traveling between 70 and 90 m.p.h. when his car struck three parked cars before ramming into a group of teen-agers standing at the end of Culbreath Road.
The dead-end road, about two miles south of Bloomingdale, is a popular gathering place that teen-agers call “The Spot.” The crowd was clustered in the middle of the street, and the cars Kimball’s vehicle struck were parked along the roadside, Espinosa said.
Dead, Injured Identified
The dead were identified as Kevin Gossic, 16, of Brandon and Robbie Bidell, 19, of East Hillsborough.
Raymond Kerker, 16, of Brandon was in fair condition at Tampa General Hospital after surgeons reattached a leg severed in the accident.
Kimball was scheduled to compete in the Olympic trials in Indianapolis Aug. 17-21.
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