One UF student died and another is left in critical condition after a motorcycle accident Friday night.
Shortly after 7 p.m., Thomas Josephy Coady and his passenger Halie Lynn Guelfi, both 22, ran a red light at the intersection of 34th Street and Northwest Eighth Avenue on a motorcycle. The pair hit the passenger side of 62-year-old Tolar Powell’s pick-up truck, said Gainesville Police spokesman Officer Ben Tobias.
Coady and Guelfi were both sent to UF Health Shands Emergency Room with serious head wounds and other internal injuries. Powell was left uninjured.
Coady was pronounced dead at 12:53 a.m. Saturday, Tobias said.
Guelfi is still in the hospital and in critical condition, said UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes.
Sikes said Coady was a biology senior at UF. Guelfi is also a biology senior.
The day after Coady died, Maria Coady Bedard — his mother and an education professor at UF — changed her Facebook profile picture to one of her and Thomas.
“Its a beautiful picture maria,” one woman commented. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Tom was so sweet and funny.”
“Maria, my heartfelt condolence and prayers in this tragic time of grief,” another man commented. “Thomas’ home is in heaven where you will meet again. … Amen.”
