Arrest made in Indian Rocks Beach wrong-way crash

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH (FOX 13) - The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office has arrested the man they say was behind the wheel during a deadly wrong-way crash in Indian Rocks Beach.

The crash happened Monday just before 2 p.m., on Gulf Boulevard, south of 4th Avenue.

The driver, David Schwab, who is from New Hartford, Iowa, is charged with DUI manslaughter and DUI with property damage. Investigators say his blood alcohol content was .083 at the time of the crash.

Deputies say a PSTA bus, headed south on Gulf Boulevard, was stopped at a designated bus stop.

While 55-year-old Michael Richardson was placing a bicycle on the front rack of the bus, deputies say 58-year-old Schwab crossed his vehicle from the northbound lane into the southbound lane, hitting Richardson and the bus head-on.

Richardson was flown to Bayfront Medical Center where he died. 

Richardson's family is still trying to understand why it all happened.

"It's tough," said Joshua Jones, Richardson's nephew. "We're gonna miss him. It's still kind of hard to put into words right now." 

Some of Jones' best memories growing up were made while visiting his "Uncle Mike." He is now holding onto those memories extra tightly. 

"He didn't know a stranger," Jones said. "Uncle Mike could be your best friend in a minute. You'd feel like you knew him forever and you'll start telling him your life story."

News spread quickly to Richardson's neighbors in Redington Shores.

"I'd see him riding his bike over to the VA hospital," recalled Bonnie Utz. 

Neighbors say he was an Army veteran, someone who loved being at the beach and someone who loved his country even more.

"He loved to fish, he loved to stay in the water, talk to everybody going by," Utz said. "He always had his little flag there. It was just a little tiny pole with a little flag and he'd put that in the sand and he was so proud about that."

Those same small flags were on the handlebars of Richardson's bicycle, on the day the nation observed Veterans Day, the day he lost his life.

"He was very proud of his time in the service," Jones said. "Uncle Mike was always there to lend an ear. I think more people need to be that way today and maybe we'd have a little better society."

Schwab is out on bond. We reached out to him but have not heard back.