Woman recovering after Jeep driver hits her in driving aggression incident on US 19, police say

Jermeria Holycross was driving south on U.S. 19 in Largo on Saturday when a man in a Jeep Wrangler began to tailgate her.

Holycross later told police she thought the Jeep had hit her rear bumper, so she got out to look for damage near the intersection with East Bay Drive. The Jeep driver, Holycross said, smiled and then accelerated sharply, hitting Holycross and dragging her along the driver's side of her Volkswagen Jetta.

The Jeep driver, 57-year-old Boris Alexander Twillman, sped away, arrest reports say. Largo police arrested Twillman later that day on charges of attempted first-degree murder and hit-and-run following an accident that left several injured.

Holycross suffered a broken leg and pelvis, as well as cuts and scratches. She was still at Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital in St. Petersburg Tuesday morning undergoing pelvic surgery, her aunt Misty Moore said.

It was the second operation for the 24-year-old woman from Clearwater. Surgeons had already inserted a rod into her leg on Sunday, Moore said. The fracture was so severe that the bone protruded from the skin, Moore said.

Moore said her niece suffered psychological trauma in addition to physical injuries.

“I think the thing that sticks out in her mind the most and what she keeps saying is that he just smiled at me and laughed at me when he hit me,” she said. “She's very traumatized and just has this image in her head.”

Twillman's arrest reports state that police found the Jeep Wrangler in front of his home, although he had already left with his girlfriend in another vehicle by that point. The reports list his home address in Pinellas Park.

Twillman later called Largo police, spoke to a sergeant and “described on tape that something happened” on southbound U.S. 19, but said “he was not personally involved,” reports say.

Twillman was being held without bail in the Pinellas County Jail on Tuesday. Court records show Twillman was free on bail at the time of his arrest. He was charged with several felony charges in April in connection with an incident at a Clearwater-area home involving his mother and son.

According to police reports in the case, Twillman pushed his mother against a wall during an argument on March 19, choked his son and hit him in the face with a Glock pistol, breaking his nose and an orbital bone.

Pinellas officers arrested Twillman on April 2 on charges of aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assault on a person over 65, domestic violence by strangulation and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime. He was released from the Pinellas County Jail the next day after posting $40,000 bail, records show.

Following that incident, a judge granted a request by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office for a temporary restraining order, ordering Twillman to surrender all firearms and ammunition that were or were in his possession.

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Following Twillman's arrest on Saturday, a judge in Pinellas granted prosecutors' request to revoke his bail in the case.

Roger Futerman, an attorney representing Twillman in the March case, said Tuesday that he intends to represent him in the new case as well, but declined to comment for this article.

Holycross was not alone in the car Saturday. Her 15-year-old brother and her boyfriend's two young children were also with her, Moore said. The brother is on Moore's cell phone plan, so she received an alert when the boy called 911.

Moore rushed to the scene from Port Richey. Paramedics had already taken Holycross to the hospital, but her brother and her boyfriend's children were still there.

“The children were completely distraught,” Moore recalls. “Everyone was in absolute panic.”

When Moore and other family members reached the hospital, Holycross was not in stable condition and was being treated for internal bleeding and other injuries, Moore said.

Moore said Holycross and other witnesses told police the Jeep driver drove aggressively and cut people off for several minutes before coming up behind Holycross. Holycross said she got out of her Volkswagen and held out her hands to the Jeep driver, signaling that she needed a minute to check the damage.

“He put the car in reverse, looked at her, laughed and hit the gas,” Moore said.

Moore said Holycross was dragged along the side of her car with such force that part of her body shattered the driver's side window. Her brother got out of the car and chased the Jeep down the road, screaming, Moore said. She said another driver who witnessed the incident followed the Jeep, which helped police track it down.

Moore said Holycross is convinced that Twillman hit her intentionally and that it was not an accident that happened in his haste to leave the scene.

“This was a complete massacre of a human being on the side of the road,” Moore said.

Holycross was scheduled to begin pharmacy technician training on Wednesday, but those plans have now been postponed. Moore started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for her niece's medical bills and other expenses.

Moore said the family is grateful they don't have to raise money for a funeral. And when people ask Holycross how she is, she gives a simple answer: “I'm alive. I'm here.”

“We are grateful that she is here, the Lord has already blessed us for this,” said another aunt, Candy Holycross-Jones. “Now we need justice.”

Times writer Chris Tisch contributed to this report.