Deadly Hit-Run Linked To Killer

By MIKE WELLS The Tampa Tribune

Published: Aug 31, 2007

TAMPA - Minutes before his Harley-Davidson motorcycle was rear-ended, John Michael Meek sat in the same roadside bar as the man accused of killing him, a convicted murderer.

Many friends of Meek, who died early Wednesday morning after the crash on Krycul Avenue, called him Uncle Ugly, a nickname he got from his biker buddies and children in his Gibsonton neighborhood. In his younger days, he wrestled professionally at the Tampa Armory under the name of Iron Mike.

His loved ones say they are outraged that the man accused of killing Meek served only 12 years of a 40-year prison sentence in 1989 for second-degree murder.

Before the crash, Meek, 52, spent the evening at James' Place, a bar on U.S. 301 in Riverview, Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Witnesses told detectives that the driver responsible for the crash followed Meek out of the parking lot intending to run him down.

The motive is unclear, Carter said.

Meek's motorcycle was hit as he headed south on Krycul at about 3 a.m. The rear tag assembly and fender were pushed into the tire, causing the tire to lock, the motorcycle to fall and throw Meek off. He was rushed to Tampa General Hospital, where he died at 4:15 a.m.

On Thursday, deputies charged the man they say left after he hit the motorcycle.

Harry Brian Taylor, 37, of 3004 Tega Kay Court, No. 76, Brandon, is charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crash with a death involved, and is being held without bail.

One witness told deputies they saw Taylor watch Meek leave the bar's parking lot on his Harley-Davidson and overheard him say something similar to "I'm going to" or "I ought to" "run over" him.

Taylor got into a white van he bought this week and followed the Meek south on Krycul, a report said.

'Seven Bud Lights'

Detectives found Taylor at work Thursday at Zimek Technologies, 251 78th St. S. He was taken to the sheriff's office on Falkenburg Road and later arrested. Taylor is a manager at Zimek, which sells and manufactures room-disinfecting systems.

He told detectives he drank "about seven Bud Lights" at the bar, the arrest report said.

Damage on his van was consistent with the damage to Meek's motorcycle, the report said.

Taylor told detectives he bought the van Tuesday, and the previous owner told deputies the damage wasn't there when he sold it.

Taylor was held at Orient Road Jail on Thursday afternoon without bail. Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Walter Heinrich denied bail, which had been $30,000, after prosecutors asked for more time to investigate the suspect's background, Heinrich said. Taylor will be back in court at 8 a.m. today for another bail hearing.

In 1989, Taylor was convicted of second-degree murder, grand theft auto and grand theft in connection with a robbery March 26, 1988, in Marion County, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records.

He pleaded guilty to stabbing Ted Czochara, 60, four times in the victim's Summerfield home and to stealing his 1987 Mazda pickup and other items from the home, according to published reports.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Taylor was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the homicide and five years each for the other charges. He was released in 2001.

Meek was injured in a 1994 motorcycle wreck in Gibsonton when a car turned in front of him. He swerved to avoid hitting it and crashed, according to published reports. Friends said the wreck put him on disability assistance, though he occasionally worked handyman jobs.

Meek's Friends Consider Fundraiser

Joseph Spezanno, 36, of Tampa, met Meek long after he had quit wrestling and said they became fast friends.

"He'd do anything for you," Spezanno said.

Spezanno said he rode alongside Meek on motorcycle trips many times and that they had escaped death before.

"We almost got killed on the way to Apollo Beach by a driver who was going the wrong way and nearly took out 12 of us," he said. "There's not a month that goes by that we in the biker community don't hear about another two or three bikers getting killed out on the roads."

Meek's friends are discussing a possible bike ride fundraiser to benefit his family.

Meek's longtime friend and self-described "little sister," Patti Alley, 40, of Gibsonton, said the local biker community is heartbroken over his death.

She said he and Taylor were frequent customers at James' Place but that she was not aware of any confrontations between them or whether they even talked before the crash.

Alley was angered by Taylor's past conviction.

"It makes a joke of the system," she said.

Another friend, Jack Bramlett, 44, of Valrico, said he also was shocked to hear the record of the man arrested in Meek's death.

"It's a shame," he said. "Mike was a funny, easygoing guy. He never looked for any problems."

Reporter Thomas W. Krause contributed to this report. Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.