FORT WALTON BEACH — A 35-year-old man has been charged with DUI manslaughter in connection with the death of a construction worker on Eglin Parkway last summer.
Michael David Stull of Fort Walton was driving a 1992 Dodge Dakota pickup truck north on Eglin in the inside lane about 11:15 p.m. Aug. 14 when he drifted left into a marked construction zone in the southbound lanes just south of Katherine Street, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The work was part of the ongoing Eglin resurfacing project from Shalimar to U.S. Highway 98.
Stull hit an orange traffic cone and then struck 56-year-old Frank Thomas Donson of Pensacola as he was walking toward a steel roller parked in the construction area, the FHP reported. Donson was thrown into the side of the steel roller and fell into the inside northbound lane.
Stull’s truck continued forward and hit the roller.
Donson was pronounced dead at the scene.
Stull, who was not wearing a seat belt, suffered critical injuries, according to the FHP.
The resurfacing work was suspended for more than a month after the accident.
Stull was arrested Thursday for driving under the influence of prescription medication and for failing to drive in a single lane.
He was in the Okaloosa County Jail on Friday with no bond. He is scheduled to appear in court April 9.