PANAMA CITY BEACH — Prosecutors will be steering toward DUI manslaughter charges after receiving blood work for a driver who allegedly ran up a sidewalk and over a Louisiana teenager, according to court documents.
Police initially charged Lee Creary, 50, with possession of a controlled substance May 22 after a midnight crash on South Thomas Drive in which a teenage pedestrian died. A single .5 mg Xanax was found in the center console cupholder of her SUV. Additional charges were pending as samples of Creary’s blood were sent out for lab tests. Prosecutors now expect to file DUI manslaughter charges after receiving results from that night that came back 0.18 percent alcohol concentration.
Mark Garrard Robertson, 17, was returning to his room at the Boardwalk Beach Resort, 9450 South Thomas Drive,at about midnight when a vehicle drove up on the sidewalk and struck him, police said. The vehicle was identified as a 1991 Chevrolet Suburban driven by Creary, according to Panama City Beach Police reports.
The Chevrolet Suburban was traveling on South Thomas Drive toward the intersection at Alvin’s Island Department Store before it veered onto the sidewalk on the south shoulder of the road, crashed into a light pole and then struck a pedestrian.
Robertson, an Opelousas, La., resident, was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:46 a.m.
Creary was taken to Bay Medical and upon her release was arrested for possessing a controlled substance and taken to the Bay County Jail. If found guilty, Creary would face a minimum sentence of four years in prison for the DUI manslaughter charge alone.