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The semi-trailer driver wrote a text message saying “I’m going to jail” during an accident at a Tampa strip club, police say
Utah

The semi-trailer driver wrote a text message saying “I’m going to jail” during an accident at a Tampa strip club, police say

Around the time a tractor-trailer plowed into a group of people outside Emperors Gentlemen’s Club early Tuesday morning, killing one person and injuring two others, the man believed to be the driver sent a text message to a childhood friend.

“Goodbye,” Dylan Fogle wrote, according to an arrest report. “I’m going to jail for involuntary manslaughter.”

That was one of the new details released Thursday after police announced they had arrested Fogle in connection with the fatal collision. The collision happened after a “disturbance” occurred at the adult club involving Fogle and another man described as a friend of his. The friend, identified in court records as Anthony Matelsky, was not arrested.

Police identified the man killed as 44-year-old Giovanni Soto.

Fogle, 25, of North Carolina was hospitalized before being booked into prison on charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder, involuntary manslaughter, DUI manslaughter and driving while intoxicated causing serious bodily harm.

Dylan Fogle
Dylan Fogle (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)

He was staggering and showing other signs of intoxication, police said when officers arrived outside the club at 5718 E. Adamo Drive shortly before 4:30 a.m.

Investigators interviewed dancers and bouncers at the club. According to witnesses, Fogle and Matelsky were drinking together. Earlier that morning, one of the dancers said Fogle tried to touch her inappropriately, the police report states. He was thrown out.

Matelsky remained inside, according to the report. The same woman said she later danced for Matelsky when he also began behaving inappropriately, the report said. Security escorted him out, too.

The club’s surveillance video shows Matelsky “physically getting into an altercation” with staff outside, the report says. At one point, someone pushed him. He fell on his back, got up and continued to argue with the group. At that moment, the semi-trailer rolled into the group.

Three people, including Soto, were hit.

Soto died at the scene. The other two men, Joshua Sanders (45) and Stephen Tyler (35), were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Sanders told the Tampa Bay Times that he was struck by the semi-trailer, resulting in a fracture of his spine and a leg.

“I didn’t see it,” he said.

Sanders was released from the hospital on Wednesday, but was told he would need to undergo eight weeks of physical therapy.

Tampa attorney Jeff Murphy, who represents both Sanders and Tyler, said he did not know the exact injuries. He said one of Tyler’s arms was in a cast Thursday.

Shortly after the collision, video showed the truck’s driver’s door open. Several unknown people pulled Fogle out of the vehicle and beat him, the report said.

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The truck, a 2019 Peterbilt semi-trailer, was reportedly operated by Mule Team, a Tennessee-based company. The company told police it reviewed the truck’s onboard camera, which showed the truck was parked on the south side of the parking lot for about one minute and 35 seconds before driving toward the group.

The truck crashed on the northern edge of the parking lot near the club’s loading dock.

Angelise Ortiz, Fogle’s childhood friend, who told police about his texting, said he called her six times just after 4 a.m., the report said. She texted him asking if he was OK before texting back that he was going to jail. He then sent two photos showing the inside of the cab of the semi, the report said.

“It was a very humbling experience to be someone’s last call,” Ortiz told the Tampa Bay Times in an interview Thursday. “I don’t think he planned on surviving that.”

Ortiz and Fogle have been friends since they were 10 years old, she said. He has expressed a passion for driving semi-trucks for as long as Ortiz can remember. The trucking job that brought Fogle to Tampa was his “dream job,” she added.

Fogle was never violent when he drank, she said, and he was not a regular at Emperors.

“I think the alcohol definitely got the better of him that night,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz said Matelsky was a bad influence on Fogle.

“It wasn’t something I expected him to do. I know he’s a bit of a wild person, but I never thought he would do something like that,” she said. “It wasn’t a shock to me that he did that while hanging out with his boyfriend. That part wasn’t a surprise.”

Matelsky could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday at several numbers listed under his name.

Another witness, described as Fogle’s co-worker, said she called him before the collision and asked if he knew where Matelsky was, the report said. She said he told her he had been involved in a disturbance at the club and that his tooth was chipped.

Fogle was hospitalized before being taken to jail. His blood alcohol content was above the .08 limit under Florida law, police said, but the exact amount was not included in records released Thursday.

When investigators questioned Fogle at the hospital, he said he was waiting in the parking lot to pick up Matelsky and saw the group confronting his friend. He continued driving, he said, but the gas pedal got stuck. When police asked him why he didn’t drive away from the crowd, he couldn’t give a valid answer, the report said.

During a press conference, police had previously stated that Fogle had been “lying in wait” for about half an hour before he saw a person with whom he had been arguing leave the club.

Neither the dead man nor the two injured were the actual targets, police said. The three were customers and not employees.

In this 2019 photo, Jazlyne Soto poses next to her father, Giovanni Soto, holding her elementary school certificate.
In this 2019 photo, Jazlyne Soto poses next to her father, Giovanni Soto, holding her elementary school certificate. (Courtesy of Jazlyne Soto)

Soto, who died in the crash, had graduated from Tampa Bay Technical High School about 10 years ago and owned an auto repair shop in Tampa, his family said.

Miguel A. Soto, his father, said he loved working on cars with his son. Whenever either of his two brothers needed help fixing their car, money or advice, Soto was always there for them, their father said.

Soto was also an attentive father, said his 16-year-old daughter.

Jazlyne Soto remembers his goofy behavior and their frequent fishing trips. What she will miss most, she said, is his presence.

“He was always just a phone call away,” his daughter said. “For him, I was first and everyone else came second.”

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