NewsHillsborough County

Actions

Driver charged with DUI after entering fatal Hillsborough County crash scene: HCSO

vlcsnap-2026-07-27-03h23m45s639.png
Posted

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A driver was arrested early Sunday morning after deputies said he drove into an active fatal crash scene while impaired on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (HCSO).

Deputies were investigating a traffic fatality around 3 a.m. near North 43rd Street when 29-year-old Leela Padileti drove a Kia Sportage onto the sidewalk and ignored marked patrol cars with emergency lights blocking the roadway, HCSO said.

Deputies said the vehicle entered the active crime scene before Padileti was boxed in by law enforcement.

HCSO said Padileti, who was shown on posted body camera footage telling deputies he was coming from St. Petersburg, failed field sobriety exercises and was arrested on a DUI charge.

Saudi flight from Tampa, secret FBI probe reveal possible Saudi support network for 9/11 hijackers

Twenty years after the Sept. 11 attacks, more than 80,000 records compiled by the Tampa FBI Field Office remain classified. Newly declassified documents are pointing to a possible secret Saudi support network for the hijackers. Soon after the attacks, the FBI uncovered that 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi flight from Tampa and secret FBI probe reveal possible Saudi support network