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Family members are speaking out about a hit and run that killed 55-year-old James Alan Proctor, but police reports show there may be more to the story.
Proctor was found dead in the median of Back Beach Rd. Friday morning. Later that day, Stephanie Raquel Sauls turned herself in as the driver who struck him. Authorities said early on that they didn’t anticipate criminal charges.
Sauls’ attorney Robert Sombathy says she never saw what collided with the car that night, and that she went home thinking it was an animal. Both Sauls and Panama City Beach Police Maj. Dave Humphreys say the damage on the car is evidence this may not be a typical hit and run case.
“It’s not your normal type of damage that you would expect in a pedestrian crash and nor is the damage to the pedestrian,” he said. Details of the evidence are still unavailable pending the investigation.
Proctor has early-onset dementia, and had previous encounters with the police department. Incident reports show Proctor had been picked up just 3 days before the accident for “jumping out in front of traffic moving on the roadway.” He was admitted to Bay Behavioral, and released according to the Baker Act.
Despite his history, Proctor’s family members say they want answers.
“There was a lot of damage done to him and it hurts,” said the victim’s daughter, Heidi Whitney. She saw her father for the first time since 2003 Monday, at a viewing after he was killed.
“I have no bad memories of my father,” she said, “everything that I remember of him was good even as a child the memories I do have.”
Proctor was a man who used to be in the Army, who had 3 daughters, and later struggled with his illness.
“He knows that I love him and he knows that I’m going to fight,” said Whitney, “And I’m going to fight to make this right.”
Family members have hired attorneys Perry and Young, and are looking at filing a civil wrongful death lawsuit. With each unanswered question, their concerns grow.
“I’m just disgusted by the way the police department is handling this,” said Proctor’s niece, Angela Coffee. Coffee says she wants to know why authorities seemed so quick to close the case.
Humphreys says they are still putting the pieces together to find out exactly what happened that night. Sauls has been cooperative with authorities throughout the investigation.
Meanwhile, Whitney says she’s looking back at the time she and her father did spend together.
“I still remember him as my daddy. He will always be my daddy,” she said, “No matter what happened.”
this is funny how this whole issue is being handled for one ANYBODY in there right mind would STOP and see what they hit CALL THE POLICE AND MAKE AN ACCIDENT REPORT TO FILE A CLAIM WITH INSURANCE its a known fact i have been with people and my self have accidently hit animals on the road and evey time we hit something that “runs” in front of us we STOP to see wut happened i agree with others on this on i think she was just alittle tipsy and didnt want a charge hello people HIT AND RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is a lot more to this story>>>> At this point it’s about proof>>> I WILL SAY IT WAS NOT RAINING AT 1:30AM….. The victim was NOT some crazy nut roaming the EARTH….. It is very simple Ms. Sauls left the scene of the accident… she went right around the corner to where she lives and did nothing… She was able to put on her big girl panties and call the lawyer to call the police for her the next day>>>>> She could have also called someone to check on where her car impacted the victim>>>> A reminder to all the PCB police Dept already decided and told the family over the phone as I listened on a speaker phone, that they would not be pressing charges simply because she thought she hit an animal>>> Then even brought up that they PCB had a report stating he was jumping in traffic>>>> Which basically two and half hours after family being notified about the accident is not a good time to say well it was the dead guys fault and dismiss any wrong doing of the driver
Oh yeah… one niece slams the door in the cop’s face barely a week ago, and now it’s “why aren’t they investigating more” blah blah blah. Money-grubbers. That family didn’t give a damn about that poor delusional man.
Sad.
Read the incident report and you will get a new perspective on this poor man and the family that loves him. He should have been placed in a home of some type but instead they just chose to not deal with him. Pretty sad I think. Thier are ways the woman could have hit him without actually seeing him especially if he jumped out at her vehicle. Coming forward gives her some credability I think. I don’t think suing is going to solve anything except the family finances.
I think he assumed she was drunk because that is only one of two plausible explanations (other being she could have lied). But, that said, I think the daughter needs to stay out of it. She just makes the whole case look bad. 6 years? Come on. No one has pity on you now. Don’t whine now when you should have been there for him all along. Maybe there was a reason you weren’t there; maybe you couldn’t handle his mental episodes. That’s understandable. Noone blames you for that. But, don’t come forward now; it just look bad and hurts your case.
I gree abut roomers speln is nut enpurtent.
Grow up maybe the guy hit the keyboard wrong or really can’t spell.so what
Grow up and put on your big people panties
Mischief
wewa-fisherman should learn how to spell if he wants to comment. That is the first time anyone has said the driver had been drinking. I think he just dreamed that part up. That is how rumors get started
The driver should know what they hit before moving on She had a few dranks she hit the man no matter what she is wrong as she didn’t stop So now she should pay make his family rich spend five years in jail stop dranking pray to God Have a good day
It seems a little odd to me that Proctor’s daughter had not seen her dad since 2003, but now that she thinks she might have a lawsuit against the driver she acts like she loved her daddy. If that were true she couldn’t live in the same town and not see him for six years. This sounds like another family out to get money that they DO NOT deserve.
How can you hit something, be it animal or human and just drive away without checking to see exactly what you hit? The news story doesn’t say if he was killed instantly or not. The least she could have done was check. And even if he did jump in front of the car, don’t asume it is just some animal. My prayers are with the family.
sympathy to the families, but sorry to say, open and shut, he has a past history of jumping out infront of cars? unless theres evidence to the contrary, case closed.
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hello, man jumping infront of cars = something wrong in the brain. he has had a past history of this kind of activity, he prob was drinking and jumped. the only thing that has gotten this story pumped up, is his family wanting money. you know the ones that dismissed him till they thought they could get some stone cold cash, then its oh my daddy, Bull hockey!!