‘He was a gentleman all around’
Alcohol, speed part of inquiry in crash that killed Uber driver, 82
DELRAY BEACH— J. Gerald’s Smith’s dinner was on the stove waiting for him to get home Wednesday around 4:30, as the 82-year-old retired real estate agent sat at a stop sign at Northeast First Street in his Buick SUV.
Roger Wittenberns, 60, the multimillionaire founder of the Lady of America health club chain, and his longtime girlfriend Patty Ann McQuiggin, 61, spent the afternoon eating and drinking in downtown Delray Beach. They left in separate yellow luxury cars — he in a Lamborghini, she in a Porsche. They were speeding on Federal Highway, police said.
As Smith headed west to cross Federal Highway, the Lamborghini crashed into his Buick Enclave, killing him, police said.
Speed and alcohol are both being considered as factors in the crash, said Delray Beach police spokeswoman Dani Moschella.
Police said it was Wittenberns who told them he had been drinking in the afternoon. He suffered critical injuries in the crash and remains hospitalized at Delray Medical Center.
Police haven’t determined exactly how fast Wittenberns was driving. No one has been charged in the crash, but police say the investigation continues.
A little extra money
A woman who answered the door at Smith’s Boynton Beach home Thursday said lawyers had advised the family not to speak with the media.
Smith’s wife told police he usually came home around dinner time.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Moschella said. “He was 82 years old, trying to make a little extra money driving an Uber.”
Before becoming an Uber driver, Smith was a real estate agent in Boynton Beach. His former boss, Scott Mcvey, said Smith had been selling real estate for more than a decade when the two teamed up in 2008 at Blue Water Realty. The company closed in 2010, but in those two years, Mcvey said he and Smith became “quite good friends.”
“Hewas a gentleman all around— just awonderful individual,” Mcvey said. “He was very happy. He was just a super guy always with a smile on his face, always very pleasant.”
Semi-retired, Smith really didn’t need towork, but he did because he loved helping people, Mcvey said.
“He was a real people person, and he loved taking people aroundandgetting them situated in a new home.”
Luxury vehicle drivers
McQuiggin left the crash scene and parked her Porsche in the parking lot of Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, a restaurant nearby. Police caught up with her later. It was unclear howshe got home to Vista DelMar, police said.
Attorney Mitchell Beers said he is representing Wittenberns and McQuiggin.
“To comment on the releases by the Delray Beach police department at this point doesn’t serve anything,” he said. “From all the protests that are going on right now, I think your readers understand that you cannot take everything the police release at face value.”
Beers said he had seen Wittenberns at the hospital. “He does have serious injuries and he is going to need some hospitalization and treatment,” he said.
Wittenberns is an avid fan of exotic cars, hisFacebook page shows. It includes photographs of him attending specialty car shows all over the country. One photograph shows him posing with comedian and former “The Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, a car aficionado.
He retired from Lady of America health club chain in 2005. He now runs DiversifiedHealth& Fitness, a Fort Lauderdale-based holding company for health club franchises Zoo Health Clubs, American Body Works, Fit For Her, FitZone For Women, Access Fitness and Sedona, according to itswebsite.
Wittenbernsmovedto a $2 million home in Delray Beach in 2014 after selling his Fort Lauderdale mansion onHarborage Isle for $6.5 million.
Wittenberns also was a neighbor and victim of convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, losing about $300,000 in the $1.4 billion fraud. Wittenberns said in newspaper interviews at the time that he had checked out the investment pitch fromRothstein and uncovered no red flags.
McQuiggin’s Facebook page is packed with animal videos and dog pictures. It also includes photos of her at a car show in Monterey, Calif., and of her driving a bright red Ferrari while on a trip to SantaMonica.
Wittenberns and McQuiggin had their licenses suspended for driving under the influence of alcohol
in the past, according to Florida’s Department of Highway Safety andMotor Vehicles.
Authorities said he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 on Nov. 29, 1999, in Broward County. Florida law considers a driver under the influence with a level of 0.08. Wittenberns’ license was suspended for six months, according to state records.
McQuiggin’s license was suspended for six monthsfor aJune14,2003, incident in Broward Countywhenofficials said she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more, according to state records.
Dangerous stretch
Investigators on Thursday were reviewing surveillance video from a business near the crash site, Moschella said.
Glyn Moulton, 68, who lives around the corner fromwhere the crash happened, said he walked up Wednesday to find the area blocked off with police tape — the heavily damaged SUV and Lamborghini still on the road.
“I saw the yellow Porsche parked [at Anthony’s], and the two cars in the middle of the street were just demolished,” Moulton said. “The Lamborghini was totally disintegrated. The SUV was all caved in and smashed in on the driver’s side.”
He said he has seen numerous crashes on the road in his 13 years of living in the neighborhood.
“That’s a dangerous intersection right there,” he said, pointing to where the crash happened.
Moschella, the police spokeswoman, said the Lamborghini was in the left lane on Federal Highway, and the Porsche was in the right lane “just next to, and behind the Lamborghini.” As they headed north on Federal, in an area with a posted limit of 35 mph, “they’re traveling at a very high rate of speed,” Moschella said.
Residents say the straight stretch of road without stops makes the area ideal for speeding.
“By the time they get to Anthony’s in this area, often, daily, they’re hitting 70,80mph,” Moulton said.
Although the road has a 35 mph limit, Moulton said he sees many drivers ignore it.
“We’ve been yelling for years, put a light there. It’s really simple,” Moulton said. “They put up red lights everywhere when they were doing the beautificationproject of Delray, but they didn’t put one up there.”
Delray Beach Commissioner Mitch Katz said the Police Department and the city have “definitely been looking at that intersection.”
“We’re definitely concerned about the speeding and traffic there, and we’re not ignoring it,” he said.
Moschella said the department stops a lot of speeding vehicles in the area and confirmed there have been crashes there in the past.
“Speeding in an area like that is extremely dangerous, andwewant to remind people that in a crowded downtown area, you have to drive responsibly,” Moschella said. “It’s fortunate that more people weren’t injured because there were a lot of pedestrians in the area.”