Epilogue Christopher Theriault
Man run over by bus contended with hearing voices
By Andrew Meacham, Times Staff Writer In Print: Thursday, July 16, 2009
Christopher Theriault was being treated for paranoid schizo-phrenia.
Story Tools
Email Article
Contact the editor
Print this story
Comment on this story
Gay rights group wants apology from News Channel 8
Jackson's Horrific Pepsi Accident on Tape
Raw Video: Shuttle Launched After Month's Delay
Sheriff: Why Wasn't Surveillance Turned Off?
Old Belleair Beach Causeway bridge razed
Paws Up: All-pet Airline Hits Skies
Family of Slain Florida Couple Speaks
Carl Crawford Wins All-Star Game MVP Award
Grandma uses cardboard sign to make ends meet
AL All-Star Longoria Scratched
12-year-old girl took money for sex, police say
Plane With Hole in Fuselage Earlier Had Cracks
Police seeking robber wielding sawed-off shotgun
7 People in Custody in Slaying of Fla. Couple
Raw Video: Stunt Plane Crashes in Germany
Pinellas utilities truck crashes into holiday store
Skinny Dippers Unite for World Record Attempt
Study: Cats Send Different Messages With Purrs
Skating Babies Sweep the Internet
Two killed in crash near Busch Gardens
Belleview Biltmore: pieces of history
Levi: Palin Not 'Cut Out' for Presidency
Meetup.com group builds kayaks
Raw Video: McNair's Girlfriend Arrested for DUI
Is cheerleading a sport?
Good Samaritans pull woman from sinking car
Traffic Stop Turns Deadly in Louisiana
Raw Video: Man Gored, Dies During Bull Run
Lowry Park Zoo returns manatee home
Mich. Father Accidently Drives Over His Family
The girl in the window
Fake-bearded robber hits St. Petersburg bank, police say
Largo Police search for serial wallet snatcher
Woman stole man's credit card and PIN, police say
Police: South Tampa cigar shop robber broke through wall
Safety Harbor warehouse destroyed by fire, one injured
Angel Hands device may give patients more autonomy
Sinkhole forces evacuation of Dunedin home
Drak gang members arrested in smash-and-grab bust
Tarpon Police officer admits slashing tires of homeless man
On patrol for sea turtles
Suicide suspected in blast, fire at Gulfport auto shop
Queensland koala makes debut at Lowry Park Zoo.
A chance encounter - two amputees helping each other
Young Marine sergeant serves several tours in Iraq
Two shot during argument over parking
Florida panther strolls down the boardwalk
Mud boggin' at the Redneck Yacht Club in Punta Gorda
Raheem Morris' past key to Bucs future
Please don't feed the wild dolphins
40,000 bees hamper firefighters' efforts
Local brothers snorkel with whale sharks off Tarpon coast
Fisherman hooks live missile
Walker Middle teens charged as adults for sexual battery
Tampa Breeze hosts lingerie football tryouts
Tragedy at sea
Hurricane Guide: Choosing shutters
Hurricane Guide: How to prepare your boat
ST. PETERSBURG — In many ways, Christopher Theriault lived a normal life. He had worked several jobs, including bagging groceries and working with his uncle.
He loved science-fiction movies, especially the Star Wars trilogy, and watched the Discovery Channel faithfully.
But a substantial part of Mr. Theriault's life was not normal. He sometimes behaved erratically in public, clapping his hands and smiling at the sky, as if he were talking to someone.
He complained of hearing unwanted voices coming out of radios and television sets. Sometimes he broke things to shut them up.
Mr. Theriault died Monday after lying down in front of a bus, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. His family and caregivers dispute that account and believe Mr. Theriault must have fallen. He was 37.
He grew up in the Lealman and Kenneth City area and had little contact with his biological father, who left when the boy was 3.
Teachers called him a slow learner, but Mr. Theriault had an excellent mind, his family said.
He could watch a program about how rockets are made and repeat it from memory. Especially, he enjoyed reciting the Abbott and Costello bit "Who's on first?"
At 18, he changed his last name from Kelly to Theriault to honor his grandfather, who had died a month earlier. That's about the same time his family began noticing some odd behavior.
"Voices," said Robert Theriault, his uncle. "Lots of voices."
He would report having seen his grandfather. When he hurt his shoulder on the job, he told his family that police had inflicted the injury.
"The biggest thing he used to tell me a lot was that even when he had his TV off, he thought the devil was talking to him through the TV," said his stepbrother, Shawn Finch, 32.
"Anything that talked to him, he broke," said Mr. Theriault's grandmother, Iris Theriault, 74. "You could buy him a radio once a month."
For nearly 20 years now, authorities have given his condition a name: paranoid schizophrenia.
The diagnosis made him eligible for social services, where he got the medications that stabilized his moods. But his erratic behavior became more frequent over time. He was Baker Acted and taken to Personal Enrichment for Mental Health Services.
"Now it was getting to be too frequent, too often, too whatever," said his mother, Jean Finch, 56.
In November, his family placed him in Loving Care of St. Petersburg, an assisted living facility. He was doing well there and taking his medications, his mother said.
The facility allows residents to come and go as they please, as long as they sign out whenever they leave. Mr. Theriault did that at about 8 a.m. Monday, said Loving Care Administrator Graham Harte.
At 1:06 p.m., according to troopers, witnesses saw Mr. Theriault kneeling on the west shoulder of 49th Street N as a southbound Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority bus approached 58th Avenue N.
"Based on the preliminary information, it was more methodical, not that he jumped in front of it. He just stepped off the curb, laid down in the middle of the road and got run over by the bus," said Sgt. Larry Kraus of the Florida Highway Patrol. "It didn't appear that he tripped."
Mr. Theriault's family and administrators at Loving Care don't believe it and say Mr. Theriault must have fallen. On Sunday, the day before he died, he had gone fishing with his stepfather and to a Rays game.
"We can't make sense of what happened and why it happened," said Robert Theriault, 55. "But we can say this: He's in a better place now."
Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this story. Andrew Meacham can be reached at (727) 892-2248 or ameacham@sptimes.com.
>>Biography
Christopher Allen Theriault
Born: June 4, 1972.
Died: July 13, 2009.
Survivors: mother, Jean Finch; stepfather Ralph Finch; grandmother Iris Theriault; stepbrother Shawn Finch; numerous extended family members.
Service: 11 a.m. Friday, Royal Palm North Funeral Home, 2600 Gandy Blvd. N.[Last modified: Jul 15, 2009 09:15 PM]
Share your thoughts on this story
Read our guidelines for comments
First Name (only)Location
Comment (May be published online and/or in print)You have 250 characters left to comment.
Your comment has been submitted to our editors. Thoughtful contributions will be displayed online within 24 hours. Click here to submit another comment
1018805
SHOW_AD
4 commentsNewest FirstOldest First
Becky from Seminole
Jul 16th, 2009 6:25 AM
Chris - know that you are loved and we miss you very much. Say hi to Grandpa for us. Please know that you will always be in our hearts.
Nateesha from Detroit
Jul 16th, 2009 6:16 AM
A blessing that he is gone. Pity for the family and for the bus driver. No, not more in tune except with insanity.
voxy from tampa
Jul 16th, 2009 5:32 AM
maybe he was pushed like kevin mcginley. just because people hear things that others do not hear does not make them schizophrenic, just more in tune with things other aren't aware of.
JK from St Pete
Jul 16th, 2009 4:50 AM
The buses have cameras. Too bad about this for all concerned.
CHECK IT OUT. They posted a REPLY to a comment BEFORE the comment was EVEN POSTED>
yep. Had the page open refreshing it... ALL those comments appeared at the same time. HOW does a comment receive a reply from NATEESHA in DETROIT (LOL MATTEE) and not even be online for 'nateesha' to read yet???
BIG FUCKING HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
So, maybe he was pushed.
![[PDA - Progressive Democrats of America - Stand Up. Take Action. Vote.]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sP0mTTRE7VhoyCagbHAjCHkX8rg4UEPFIAfhxf3SkUqFqmIXSgVB8uWkPxMudX_6LKimEjHC2xK4kxfO1M1BW02dEa2LBNH2rxGrXqj7GkeJtdEKht5A=s0-d)
