TRAGEDY BY THE NUMBERS: Ten years, Nine lives ... Destin's No. 1 problem

Destin has had nine pedestrian deaths in the past 10 years. This number, according to data from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, includes two victims who were riding bicycles. Here are some of the detailed accounts.

• In August 2000, a 44-year-old male pedestrian died in a hit-and-run incident at U.S. 98 and Stahlman Avenue. Witnesses said a Z71 pickup pulled out of Harry T’s Boathouse weaving as it entered traffic. The driver struck the man as he was crossing U.S. 98, and continued westbound.
• In November 2000, 55-year-old James Howard Kidder was doing his job collecting trash on Calhoun Avenue, near Hickory Street. Just after 7 a.m., Kidder exited his Mack truck to unload a trash receptacle and was struck by a man in a Mercury. Kidder was pinned between the two vehicles and later died at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center.
• On Aug. 10, 2002, 14-year-old Michelle “Shelly” Meadors was struck a half mile east of Gulf Shore Drive in a hit-and-run incident. A pickup truck pulling a boat trailer ran off U.S. 98 and onto the sidewalk. The homicide is still unsolved.
• On Jan. 6, 2002, 32-year-old Kymberly Dawn Thomas was struck on Airport Road 200 feet west of Indian Bayou Trail at 3:15 a.m. The driver fled the scene and anonymously called 911. He was later found and arrested.
• On Sept. 2, 2003, 69-year-old Fr. Donald L. Cramer, a priest at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church was struck around 1 p.m. on U.S. 98 in front of Patios Plus, close to the church. He was thrown more than 100 feet by the impact.
• In March 2005, 80-year-old Robert Guy Contant of Fort Walton Beach was hit on U.S. 98 in front of Jade East Condominiums while working nearby as a security guard. Contant’s truck got stuck at a construction site in front of the condo, and he was struck as he walked from the Shell Station to call for a tow truck.
• In April 2006, 36-year-old Brazilian construction worker Elcio Nasareno was struck by a Destin woman driving a red Chevy pickup truck as he rode his bicycle westbound on Airport Road. The accident occurred at 8:40 p.m.
• In December 2006, 63-year-old Mary Kloepfer of Noblesville, Ind., was struck by an SUV while trying to cross U.S. 98 west of the intersection of Danny Wuerffel Way around 8:30 p.m. She died later at Sacred Heart on the Emerald Coast.
• On Aug. 15, 2008, 19-year-old Russian student worker Pavel Perekhodnov was struck and killed at 11:40 p.m. on U.S. 98 in front of Big Kahuna’s. Twenty-year-old Anastasia Karmatskaya was also hit but survived.

The stretch of road between Gulf Shore Drive and Airport Road has been the site of many other non-fatal accidents involving pedestrians. Some of them include:

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